


Let Instinct Lead

by Erratic_Daydreamer



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Biting, F/F, M/M, Marking, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Multi, Multiple Pairings, Multiple Partners, Multiple Relationships, Omega!Armin, Possessive Behavior, Rough Sex, Smut, omega armin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-12
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-02-25 02:43:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2605661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erratic_Daydreamer/pseuds/Erratic_Daydreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in the typical SNK universe, but with canon divergence and A/B/O dynamics. </p><p>Everyone had thought he was just going to be another beta, a late bloomer was all. Omegas, after all, were practically unheard of, a lost bloodline from sometime long ago. So no one expected it when Armin Arlert from the Survey corps went into heat for the first time at eighteen. But with the discovery of another omega comes more trouble than anyone was prepared for. Old secrets are dug up, relationships are formed and the titans remain inching ever closer towards the destruction of humanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The instant Armin was able to take a deep breath out in the open, he felt all of the tension from his shoulders give way and tilted his head back, looking up at the sky. The barracks were always too stuffy, a bunch of rowdy teenage boys letting off as many pheromones as they could to battle one another for dominance. As a suspected beta, Armin wasn’t interested in participating in – or smelling – any of it. So he frequently wandered the training grounds during his free time, or went to ask Hanji if they needed any help with their experiments, or he would find himself discussing strategies with Erwin until late at night, but mostly he found himself sitting with Marco and Bertholdt in the grass beyond the training grounds, looking out at the wall and wondering what lay beyond it. 

He wasn’t surprised to see his two companions already quietly discussing something, splayed out over the grass. Bertholdt and Marco had both shown their dynamics at fifteen like most children did. It was only Armin in the survey corps who was eighteen and still never displayed any discernible signs. But that fact had never bothered him or his friends as he dropped down next to Bert, picking at the straps of his 3D maneuver gear. “Rough day?” Marco asked, his typical gentle smile now fixed on his blonde friend who sighed loudly in reply, flopping onto his back in the grass. “You can imagine, I’m sure. Levi heicho worked us to the bone, like always. Remind me why I joined the survey corps again?” Armin retorted, rolling his eyes at his own question before shaking his head. Of course he knew why he joined; it was the same reason as Mikasa. To stay at Eren’s side no matter what. 

The hotheaded brunette had more of an impact over their lives than he would ever understand. Always running into things without thinking, Armin and Mikasa would follow him. Marco frequently joked that Eren had the spirit, Mikasa was his sword and Armin was his brain. It was almost funny how spot on the freckled boy always was. The trio settled into a comfortable silence as they watched the sunset until a bell rang three times, signifying all members to return to their barracks. Helping each other up, they made their way back into the noisy bunk area, holding a quiet conversation that faltered the instant they opened the door, a new flood of noise hitting them. For soldiers, they really were still all children. 

Armin nudged Marco with a roll of his eyes and a jerk of his head towards where Eren and Jean were pummeling each other with their pillows, screaming something along the lines of ‘Titan shifting asshole!’ and ‘Horse looking mother fucker’. With whispered jokes between the three of them, they settled on Armin’s bunk, watching what had evolved into a full blown pillow war. At some point Bertholdt had to lunge from his spot to restrain Reiner from actually hurting Connie and Marco spent most of the time scolding Jean while Armin simply read until the door was slammed open and one of the higher ranked soldiers told them to sleep lest they find themselves mucking the stalls for the next month. It was enough and, like always, the night was the only time where a peaceful quiet settled in. 

Groaning loudly, Armin burrowed his face farther into his pillow that he ended up clinging to sometime in the night. His entire body ached from yesterday’s training and the last thing he wanted to do was get up and run morning laps. But Eren’s lovely and oh so obnoxious voice was whispering the most random and stupid shit in his ear while he was being shaken incessantly and…oh. Marco was in on it too, he realized as soon as a hand ran through his hair and a high pitched voice started off on the stupidest names. “Oh pookie pumpkin pie cream puff honey bear you’re the sweetest candy in the jar baby boy I’m just going to eat you up yes I am.” It never took much of the baby talk to get Armin waving his arms backwards defensively and muttering about how he was awake.

Stretching upright, he tried to glare at the two grinning brunettes, only to fail horribly when he caught their pleased expressions. “You guys are mean.” He hissed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes in a way he had once caught Reiner referring to as adorable. Once he rolled all the kinks out of his shoulders, Armin got a chance to actually look around the barracks and at the light – or rather, lack of. “Guys. Guys the sun isn’t up.” He pointed out, his voice monotone as he stared at his friends. “Why are we the only ones awake before the sun?” “We’re not, Bert’s awake too.” Marco said in a voice that was more cheerful than it had any right to be with how early it was as he gestured to the tan boy who smiled meekly at Armin in response. 

“Look, so we’re going to run our laps early. I heard Sasha talking yesterday and she said there’s a new cook who’s incredible, so we wanted to get the food when it was actually hot for once. You should be happy we’re including you.” Eren said, grinning widely before he was off of Armin’s bed and chucking his clothing at him. “Now get dressed so we can go run, it’s almost dawn and Levi heicho won’t be happy if we intrude on his shower time because you know he showers right before…” Ignoring his best friend’s ramblings, Armin moved slowly while he dressed. Every bone in his body seemed to be screaming for him to relax, to give his body a break. But there were no breaks to be found in the military and he knew what he was getting into before he sighed up. 

As soon as the sun had risen, the blonde found himself running their usual thirty laps around the area, with Eren essentially pulling him along and complaining about how slow he was being. He didn’t care about some stupid new cook or getting their food when it was hot, having long become accustomed to the chewy, cold gruel they were served on most days. But maybe if he finished early Erwin would be available and he could ask about that book…The thought had him picking up his pace until he was running side by side with Eren, Marco and Bertholdt whom, Armin couldn’t understand why, didn’t invite Reiner. 

Armin had to admit, the food was great. Only the high ranked soldiers were in the mess hall and everything was hot and filling and delicious. Any plans the blonde had to shovel his food down and run were wiped away and it seemed he wasn’t the only one who thought so by the obscene moans and groans from his friends...being Marco and Eren. Bertholdt, like Armin, preferred to eat silently like a civilized person. It seemed that the taste didn’t diminish with the cold, because despite the initial anger from their friends, the instant they took bites of the food the mess hall returned to being almost silent, save for exclamations about how good it was. However, the moment Erwin rose from his seat and headed towards the door, Armin was after him, shoving his leftover food at Sasha, who screamed out her love for him as he called out to their commander.

Back at the table, it was Jean who finally spoke up with a smirk. “So…you think the commander and him are fucking?” He asked no one in particular, causing Eren to choke on his food, Marco to cast him a warning look and Ymir and Reiner to hoot in acknowledgement. “Of course they are, what the hell else would they do doing together all the time? Besides, Erwin’s an alpha and a damn strong one; most betas would fall head over heels for him any day.” Ymir’s reply came with a grin and a slight jump when Krista pinched her side as a reprimand. “I bet they fuck over the desk. Armin’s the kind of guy who’s cute as hell and gives off that innocent vibe, but he’s probably a kinky little shit when it comes down to it.” Reiner had leaned forward with a lewd grin as he spoke, as if he was telling everyone at their table a secret. 

That was enough to set everyone off on tangents about how kinky Armin and their commander were or, on the flip side, trying to defend Armin’s innocence. “Reiner, you can’t talk about the commander like that. Armin’s brilliant, remember? They just talk about books together or strategize.” It was Bertholdt’s voice that broke through the yelling of their table as he squeezed Reiner’s bicep. But Eren was fuming, only being held in place by Mikasa’s hard grip on his leg and his eyes were fixated on Jean who was being openly restrained by Marco. “Say that again horse face, I fucking dare you.” The shifter spat, once again trying to lunge across the table only to have the hand on his leg tighten past the point of pain. “Why, are you deaf? I said I bet Armin looks nice and pretty when he screams. They probably bring the corporal in sometimes as well, have you seen how Levi stares at his ass during training? Not that anyone can blame him; Armin’s got a killer body.”

This time, it was Mikasa whose glare was dark enough for Jean to snap his mouth shut with a quiet click of his teeth. “Or, uh, maybe we shouldn’t talk about Armin’s or the commander’s sex life with or without each other? Instead, we should talk about how great this new cook is.” Connie interjected when the table had gone uncomfortably silent, Sasha nodding frantically next to him. For several long moments, the table remained silent until Ymir kicked her feet up with a wide grin. “You’d better get to shoveling your mouth again, Sasha or I’m going to nab what Armin gave you. I think he meant to say my name anyway.” The undignified squawk that was pulled from Sasha’s mouth in response had the group relaxing again. Except for Eren. Eren remained glaring darkly at the captain’s table until Mikasa elbowed him hard in the ribs and jerked her head towards the members who had begun to usher people out of the mess hall. It was time for another long day of practice. 

Meanwhile, Armin and Erwin were trapped in a deep discussion, talking intently about the books the older man had leant Armin. “Shakespeare was a genius I’ll admit, but his stories rarely had morals. Really, if anything, they could be considered a bad influence. Henry V was a good leader, but the entire novel glorified war and killing, promoting it as a holy act where he who killed the most won everything in the end. Meanwhile, Vonnegut does exactly the opposite. He makes it apparent to the reader that his aim is towards anti-war and tells his story in a way that grips you while subliminally passing on his message.” Armin said, gesturing towards the two books as he spoke until before Erwin could respond, Levi stepped in. 

“Yeah, yeah you’re both fucking geniuses, the world gets it. Maybe you should work on our war strategies instead of arguing over some stupid relics that only talked about it.” He drawled, rolling his eyes at the pair. But his mannerisms, while still vulgar and blunt, weren’t as cold as they were with the rest. Because a part of Levi had grown almost fond of listening to the two strategists talk so passionately about some stupid old books. Resting his chin on his hand from where he was seated, the black haired man watched with amusement how Armin’s face went red and he stumbled over his own apologies, ducking his head down so bashfully. “Calm down, brat. If I was actually annoyed you would know it. But now you’ve run out of time so come on, we’re training in the forest today.” 

As always, Levi began walking without looking back to see if Armin was following. The corporal knew enough about the kid by now to be aware that he would always follow after him like some sort of obedient puppy. It was charming, really. By the time they made it to the grounds, the amiable silence had settled among the two that had grown more and more common as they spent time together. Levi didn’t want to talk and Armin didn’t mind the silence. If anything, he enjoyed it. It gave him time to think…about such things as why Eren was glaring viciously at their captain as soon as the two appeared in front of the rest of the squad. Though Armin moved to take his spot next to Connie at the end of the line, Eren’s iron grip stopped him, yanking him unceremoniously between himself and Mikasa. The only move Levi made to acknowledge it was a slight raise of his eyebrows before he simply shook his head and muttered “brats” under his breath. 

Swinging onto their horses, Armin took a moment to admire how far the squad had come. They were all strong enough in one way or another to be under Levi’s command and each of them held the position with pride. The disciples of humanities strongest soldier. Before long they all came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the forest, where an area had been cleared no doubt for whatever they were about to do. Dismounting with ease, each one of them saluted for Levi and Hanji (who had come along for a reason that was yet to be explained). “In case you brats have forgotten, your purpose here is to kill as many fucking titans as possible.” Armin could feel Eren go stiff next to him at the mere mention of the creatures and barely held back a roll of his eyes. For all he adored Eren, the kid had an obsession. “So, before we go on another expedition, we need to remind you brats exactly what the fuck you’re doing out there. We have too few people for some of you to get eaten. Throughout the forest there are thirty titan dummies planted. You’re going to eliminate them. As a team. This means you need to learn how to communicate how many you found and where they are even when you’re spread out. You have an hour, six flare guns and each other. Good luck and watch out for Hanji’s traps.” 

Aware that it was the only explanation they would be given, Armin’s brain was already turning. The hardest thing, especially with their group, would be communicating. That was what the flares were for. If they could break into groups of three with red flares to designate when five titans had been “killed”, green for ten and black for no-more-to-be-found it would be a simple enough system. As soon as the tiny blonde snapped out of his own thoughts, he was faced with the rest of his group who stared at him expectantly. “You’ve got the brains, Arm. We’re waiting for your plan.” Connie spoke up, grinning happily. “R-right. Um, well I was just thinking…”

He hadn’t quite expected everyone to be so content with accepting his plan as it was, but before Armin knew it flares were signaling from across the forest, the three teams working exactly how he had hoped they would. It was a simple enough exercise; despite some genius traps set by Hanji which Armin found himself the only one capable of releasing his comrades from. The last titan, however, had proved tricky to be found and required the entire team to regroup and some plain old luck. It was small and hidden perfectly among the trees and they had Sasha’s brilliant sight to thank for having caught the sun’s reflection at just the right angle. Armin was more than pleased with himself and certain that it was showing all over his face as they made their way back in a singular unit. 

When Levi and Hanji came into sight, Hanji with their thumbs up, the group broke into celebration. Some hard pats on the back from Reiner and Ymir, as well as an almost-smile from Annie had Armin’s spirits higher than they had been in weeks. Until he went to take a step forward and pain bloomed across his body, beginning near his pelvis and spreading into a full blown headache. Then he was on the ground, barely registering the muffled shouts of his name. He groaned when he was flipped, coming face to face with Levi only to shut his eyes tightly. Any other time he may have been embarrassed or even humiliated at the fact he had just fallen from a tree, but everything hurt too badly for him to care. He didn’t know how long he lay there, but when he opened his eyes again it was as if nothing had happened in the first place, other than the ache from his body’s impact. The burning was gone along with the headache and he quickly tried to scramble to his feet. 

“S-s-sorry. I…I don’t know w-what happened.” He rushed out, ducking his head to avoid the blatantly concerned look on his friend’s and the captains’ faces. It was Levi who acted first, mounting his horse only to pull Armin up behind him with strength someone so small didn’t deserve to possess. “We’ll get back to the infirmary and Hanji can inspect you there.” He spoke quietly for Armin’s sake. “Now put your arms around me so your sorry ass doesn’t fall off. Let’s go! Time for you lot to wash up!” He ended with calling to the rest of the recruits before heading off towards where they had come from. When Armin cast an ashamed look back at the group, however, he was met with Eren’s gaze. A mixture of anger and worry swam in those green eyes and it had a shiver running up his spine until he looked away.

As he had expected, there was nothing wrong with Armin, at least that Hanji could find. They said he was probably just tired and needed some rest and maybe a short break from the intense training. Having thanked them for their time, Armin spent the rest of the night assuring his friends he was fine before he passed out into a fitful slumber. But it didn’t last for long. 

Armin woke to a feeling of discomfort that was entirely foreign and, in a way, terrifying. His body was in fire as it had been before when he fell, but much to his dismay, this heat was concentrated near his pelvis, leaving him harder than he had ever been before. When he jerked upright and yanked the blankets that had stuck to his skin with sweat off, blue eyes widened and he choked back a scream. Something weird and wet and slick coated his ass and was soaking through the back of his pants into the bed. He had never moved so quickly before, practically sprinting outside of the room with the desperate hope that the cool, night air would somehow make it all go away. 

All it served to do was kick his system into overdrive as the heat became more intense to make up for the chill of the air and for the second time that day, Armin was on his knees in the dirt, desperately gasping for hair with all he had. His eyes closed and his hands twisted in his shirt, knuckles going white with how hard he was gripping the fabric. Somewhere along the line of his panting, he had started drooling, the liquid slid down his chin and pooled in his clavicle. Armin was fucking dying until his godsend came. He didn’t hear a voice or any footsteps, but suddenly there was a hand on his back, touching him through the thin layer of his shirt that remained stuck to his back with perspiration. And the most lewd, needy moan Armin had ever heard echoed throughout the trees, pulled unwillingly from his own throat. He had half a mind to start rutting against the ground, but the ounce of sanity that Armin kept his grip on allowed him to resist, though it didn’t stop the sudden arch in his back as he unconsciously pushed his ass out towards the stranger. 

Then the hand was gone and the blonde was left gasping with desire until he whirled around and made eye contact with its owner. And his world froze.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is so much masturbation in this chapter it's cray. Like...by a lot I mean three consecutive chapters of it each one featuring a different character. I'm trash and have no excuse. Also, I should apologize if anything is off or weird with this, I'm hella sick and writing when you're sick is surprisingly difficult (And I've still gotta do like 2,000 words on A Soul To Warm). But THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH for the phenomenal feedback on the last chapter. Thank you. It seriously helps motivate me so much and it's the only reason I got this chapter out today. I've already gotten a bunch of comments (which are fantastic) and even a few asks on tumblr (which I did not expect at all), so thank you. Please, please, please keep them up. Seriously. I think it's a great trade: you give me feedback, I give you chapters. Yeah? I'm doped up on cold medicine, forgive me. As always, have a beautiful day~ ^^

The bright green eyes that stared back at him had a sinking feeling growing in his stomach and Armin could feel tears well up, but _oh god his hand was on him again._ Three quick shakes of his head and a sob was torn from the blonde’s throat as he practically flung himself away from his best friend. His best friend who looked so hurt at his reaction and who smelled so damn good and who had his eyes rolling into the back of his head. “Don’t touch me!” He managed to shriek, holding his hands up in defense when Eren made a move to approach him again. It hurt. Everything hurt and ached and Armin had never been so uncomfortable in his life, but oh Eren was backing away and he wanted nothing more than to run after him. But holding on to his sanity, Armin sat trembling in the dirt, pupils blown wide as he watched Eren retreat away from him. Good. It was for the best.

Meanwhile, Eren found himself in a similar, though less extreme predicament as Armin. He had heard his friend stumble out of the barracks and, concerned that it had something to do with his earlier fall, followed after the blonde. He hadn’t been prepared for the suddenly delicious smell that attacked his senses as soon as he stepped out, nor the sudden urge to touch, to hold and bite and fuck his best friend senseless. But god if that moan wasn’t the hottest thing Eren had ever heard. Something was very wrong with Armin Arlert and Eren didn’t know what he could do. So after he was shrieked at again, he retreated slowly, which soon turned into a full on sprint as he looked for someone, anyone who would know what the hell was going on.

Before he realized where he was going, he was pounding on the door to Erwin’s office and quarters. Erwin was intelligent and a strong alpha and had been around far longer than he, so he must know what was wrong, right? “Sir! Commander, please, something’s wrong with Armin!” He yelled, when the first couple knocks had no reply. There was some shuffling and a few quiet words were murmured before the door was opened and Eren was faced with the commander of the survey corps, whose expression went from one of annoyance at being woken to concern when he saw Eren’s face. “Something’s wrong wi-” he didn’t have time to finish his question before Eren was latched onto his arm and trying to pull him along. 

“I heard him leaving the barracks and he was shaking on the ground outside and then he screamed when I touched him and told me not to and his skin was really hot and I could see he was covered in sweat and-” This time it was Erwin who cut Eren off with a wave of his hand, now walking by his side. “Alright, alright, I’ll see for myself. He may just have come down with a fever.” The commander said, casting Eren a small, comforting smile. Until they reached their destination and both men literally recoiled at the scent that covered the area.

Armin had been reduced to writhing against the ground in a vain attempt to get some friction without actually having to touch himself. His hands were twisted tightly in the hem of his shirt and he was gasping for breath, unaware of the powerful pheromones that filled the air around him.  The moment the two alphas stepped into his vision, Armin wailed, practically thrashing against the ground and _oh._ Oh that was nice. Suddenly he was squirming in Erwin’s arms, trying to rut his hips against the older man’s chest, though the position inhibited such an action and something told Armin he did it on purpose.

Erwin moved with a purpose, but Armin didn’t know where he was going with the way he had buried his face into the older man’s neck and oh god he wanted to lick it so badly. So he did. His commander froze in response and the arms holding him tightened in response but his skin tasted so fucking good. Mouth open, Armin clamped down on the side of his neck until a snarl caught his attention. Erwin was moving faster then, but Eren was right behind him scowling at the commander’s back and suddenly Armin was squirming again, his toes curling in response as he sucked lewdly on his commanding officer’s neck.

Then, it was cold and Armin was bouncing against an old mattress. He wailed again, scrambling up as he tried to lunge towards the duo only to be stopped by bars and had he been even a bit more aware of his surroundings, he would have realized that he was in the dungeons where Eren used to stay. Instead, he let out the most pitiful sob any of the three had ever heard and curled his fingers around the bars, staring up at the two alphas with wide-blown pupils and a very prominent erection straining against his pants which, he was only just noticing, was mirrored in the other two as well.

“Eren, go grab Hanji from the lab, I’ll go wake Levi. Now.” Erwin snarled the last word when Eren made no move to comply; too preoccupied with staring at the way Armin slipped his arm through the bar in an attempt to reach them. Snapping out of it, he nodded and quickly retreated, once again practically sprinting to Hanji’s lab, grateful for the opportunity to breathe in some fresh air and calm his embarrassingly-strong erection. By the time he made it to Hanji’s lab (not bothering to question why the hell they would still be awake in the first place), he had calmed down significantly though his mind was still a mess of trying to figure out what was happening to Armin. “Um, Hanji, Erwin told me to go get you. Something’s wrong with Armin.” He offered cautiously, eyeing their frame as they quite intensely stared at some piece of paper.

“Hmm? Oh, Eren. What about Armin?” They asked, turning to face him with their typical, happy grin. “I, uh…” Eren trailed off and settled for a shrug instead, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Something’s not right with him, Erwin told me to get you.” He repeated, shifting his weight uncomfortably from leg to leg. “Well then! Let’s go find out what this problem is so we can fix it.” Eren thought that no one had the right to be this energetic given what time it was, but offered them a weak smile in response before the duo hurried back to the dungeon they had locked Armin in. That thought had him flinching. He had watched as Erwin threw Armin into a cell, cold and alone and he _needed to be with him._ His teeth were digging so hard into the side of his mouth Eren was almost worried that he would shift then and there on accident and only snapped out of his thoughts when someone cleared their throat from behind him.

Levi. Great. Erwin was several steps behind him and quickly unlocked the door that would lead them down to Armin again. Eren registered that he was quietly telling Hanji all of the blonde’s “symptoms”, but there was a strange expression on his face that told of some other suspicion, like he knew this wasn’t some plain old sickness.

“Fucking shit!” It was Levi’s exclamation that drew attention to the way he covered his mouth, his face twisted up in discomfort when another door was opened and the intense pheromones hit the group like a punch to the face. “What the fuck is this, Erwin?” He demanded, pinning the commander in place with a glare. But Hanji’s eyes had gone wide and a smile bigger than what should have been possible took over their face. They looked like a titan had just spoken and agreed to have a tea party. “Omega.” Their voice was coated in awe and they practically whispered the word and like a shot, was off down the hall with the other three alphas close behind. Eren’s eyes were wide with shock, but Erwin looked like he had expected this all along while Levi’s brows were furrowed deeply, some sort of conflict displayed openly on his face when they finally came to a stop. And Eren damn near collapsed right there.

Because there Armin was, writhing on the ground of his cell with both of his hands shoved down his pants, one in the front the other at his back. At some point, Armin gave in to the burn and was desperately trying to relieve it, but nothing _worked_. Every touch against his scalding skin only made it worse and he craved something foreign and unclear that was just out of his reach. Whining loudly from the back of his throat, his eyes rolled into the back of his head when he was struck with the scents from the three alphas that now stood outside of his cell. Any modesty or shame he typically possessed was crushed under the weight of his desire, but he still didn’t dare look at them, opting instead to clench his eyes shut and press two fingers harder against his prostate.

Hanji stared on at Armin with unrestrained fascination and glee, even going so far as to bounce on the balls of their feet. “My god he really is an omega. I’ve never seen one before but everything’s pointing to it, isn’t it. He’s making you all hard, right?” They asked, turning to look at the three others who were standing in the hall. Eren’s eyes were wide and his mouth was opening and closing again, trying to take in exactly what he was seeing and _smelling._ Levi seemed to be in a similar predicament. One hand was still wrapped tightly around his mouth and nose, but he was staring at Armin with an intensity Hanji had never seen before. Erwin, however, seemed to be the only one with some of his wits still about him. He cleared his throat slightly and nodded at Hanji, though, like the other two, his eyes never strayed from the whining blonde.

“Omega.” The commander’s voice was hoarse as he spoke, cringing at the way Armin moaned loudly in response to the word coming from an alpha. “I thought omegas died out ages ago. Then he’s in his heat. And it has this strong an effect over us?” The words were choppy, along with Erwin’s thought process as every instinct he had told him to stop talking, kick everyone out and just take the younger boy. Hanji, however, was nodding enthusiastically in response, pressing their face up against the bars in a way that was too close for Eren’s comfort. “Exactly. It probably didn’t cause this much of a reaction when there were more of them, as people probably became more accustomed to smelling an omega’s heat. But since you’re all unmated alphas who have never smelled it before, it’s most likely more intense for you than it should be which is why you’re having such a powerful response. He does smell lovely, doesn’t he?”

The question was enough for Eren to snap, snarling viciously as he moved towards Hanji, aiming to get them away from Armin. Levi and Erwin interjected immediately, snarling back at the younger alpha and in an instant Armin found himself being subjected to powerful pheromones from all three of the alphas outside of his cell as they faced off over him. There was the spice and heat that was easily identifiable as Levi and the heavy musk of Erwin and that beautiful, fresh pine scent from his best friend. It was enough and the attention of all four survey corps members were pulled back onto Armin as his back bowed, arching off of the ground and he practically screamed out his orgasm. But there was no relief to be found for the tiny blonde and he sobbed, collapsing back against the cold stone floor in the dungeon, his hips already rolling back into his fingers once again against his will.

“Please, please, please, please.” He wasn’t sure when the mantra of begging started, but Armin finally dared to raise his eyes to the figures standing outside of his cell. Filled with tears, those blue pools begged more than his voice ever could as he whined for the alphas to touch him, to make that infuriating burn go away. He was in agony and they were backing up, moving farther away from him. Sobbing out his frustration, Armin watched as the three men were pulled away from him by Hanji before curling back into himself and snapping his eyes shut tightly again.

“You need to cool off. We can discuss this farther in the morning. I’m going to look for any records we have on the existence of omegas and you, _Eren,_ are not going to mention this to anyone. Meet after breakfast in my lab again and we’ll figure out what to do with him.” Hanji said diplomatically, when they had finally managed to drag the three snarling alphas away from Armin and locked the door to the dungeons tightly. Really, they had the best luck ever. An omega in the survey corps! No omegas had been around as far as they knew for years now, but it was undeniable with how Armin pulled reactions from the alphas and even Hanji had to admit he smelled better than…well, anything.

Eren was the first to storm off, but not to the barracks. Instead, he found himself alone in the wash rooms, groaning loudly and fisting his cock under a steady stream of lukewarm water. Everything about this was wrong, he knew. He shouldn’t have been standing there harder than ever over the thought of his best friend but he had never imagined exactly _how_ desirable omegas were. Or that Armin could actually be one. Pressing his forehead to the tiles, he panted heavily, his hand starting a slow slide over his erection as he closed his eyes, imaging that it was Armin’s hand, smaller and more gentle than his own. It was almost embarrassing, how on edge he was already but god he throbbed and his mouth watered when he thought back on the intoxicating scent that drove him to the point. All he wanted was to take Armin; to pin him down and possess him completely, to mark him until there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who he belonged to. It was the taboo thoughts about his friend that had his hips snapping against his fist as he worked himself quickly to completion, growling loudly and smacking his head back against a wall as every bit of build up tension was washed down the drain with his come. Taking deep breaths, he finally shut the water off when he was sure no more of Armin’s scent was on him. No one else deserved to smell the omega like that. Then, glaring at the ground the entire time, he made his way back to the barracks.

Levi was caught in a similar situation, though his thoughts escalated from what Eren’s were. The brat was attractive enough before they found out he was an omega, wickedly intelligent even when others questioned it and, though he wasn’t the most physically capable of the recruits, he had improved immensely. Snarling under his breath, the corporal allowed himself to indulge in fantasies that made him feel like a teenager again. His hips snapped roughly into his own hand as his breath came in short huffs, imaging Armin on his back. No, not his back, on his knees, with his legs spread far enough apart that it left nothing up to the imagination. He would bury his face into the ground, oblivious to how the stone scratched at his sensitive skin and his chest would follow, leaving his ass perked up in an utterly submissive position. And Levi would take him hard, how he knew the omega craved it, biting into his neck with as much force as he could and he would make Armin scream his pretty voice raw. Armin would love every second of it, Levi would ensure that he did, and his gorgeous blonde would never bother looking at another man again. _His blonde._ It was the thought that had him toppling over the edge, groaning out his orgasm as he coated his own hand. Several harsh breaths later and Levi sat up, scowling down at his hand before he muttered a quiet “fucking disgusting” and forced himself to think of anything, anything other than Armin Arlert.

Erwin should have been the one to resist his urges. He should have just gone to sleep and prepared for whatever the next day would bring, but he too found himself groaning quietly as his hand languidly worked up and down his shaft. Masturbation wasn’t something the commander indulged in frequently, if ever. He had plenty of people who were willing to satisfy his needs should he require them to. But it wouldn’t have felt right to him, to fuck someone else when his mind was completely focused on Armin, though those thoughts in themselves weren’t right to him either. He could never have prepared for just how powerful and omega’s pheromones were and just how easily they reduced even practiced alphas like himself to hormone-ridden teenagers again. But Erwin never rushed. If he was going to have the thoughts anyway, he may as well indulge in them, he thought as his thumb carefully rubbed over his head, spreading precum down his erection with every slow motion of his hand. Armin was fascinating and beautiful as it was, always eager to learn and talk with an old man such as himself over things most teenagers would turn their noses up to. Infinite curiosity and a bright mind were two things rare enough to catch most people’s attention. Yet now that he displayed his dynamic, Erwin knew things would be different. Omegas shouldn’t exist anymore, someone had made it their purpose to wipe them out years ago and there was no way they could keep Armin a secret for long. Erwin wanted to protect him and that desire, unlike any he had felt before, tipped him over the edge as he came with a low groan, his hand continuing the slow motions until he was entirely spent. 

Tomorrow would be a long, long day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really hope it was as good as the first and everyone's not just like "Nope, boo, we hate you now you suck" but hey, I tried alright? If you have any ideas for shit that should happen or could happen or even just random ramblings about it, please let me knowwww~ ^^


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for any errors in this chapter. I'm still extremely sick and it's 2:00 am that I'm finishing it up so there may be some mistakes. This chapter features *Rivarmin* so if you're a nono to that, I'd recommend only reading the first half (or just give it a try, I may convert you). As always, tumblr is the best place to contact me, pretty please with ten thousand of your favorite sweet on top leave me feedback, it is SOSOSOSOSO helpful to me, please enjoy and have a beautiful day~ ^^

Armin didn’t sleep. He had lost all of his clothing at some point during the night and had given up at some point on working out the heat himself as it only seemed to intensify the agony. The majority of his night was spent curled up on the bed with his teeth dug into the probably filthy pillow while he sobbed his heart out, praying to whatever god was out there that this…whatever it was, would end soon. There had been something insufferably desirable about the three alphas that had stood outside of his cell just hours ago. He wanted them, wanted to touch and taste and be taken by their overpowering presence, but they just stared at him as he begged for their intentions.

A hoarse whine was pulled from his throat when the sudden opening of his cell had the blonde finally breaking away from his thoughts. He had completely soaked through the sheets with slick and sweat, his hair was a dishelmed mess and he was panting heavily, curled up completely naked on the mattress. Any other day, he would have been humiliated by someone seeing him in such a condition and Armin wanted to scream when a familiar person entered the room. It was such a disappointment. Moblit, Hanji’s assistant was staring at him with wide eyes before he slowly set a tray down on the floor and backed away, locking the door again when he retreated. The scent left something to be desired; naturally calming beta pheromones masked over the remains of the alphas and left Armin breathing in deeply to catch them again.

Meanwhile, Eren was sitting in the mess hall, clutching the edge of the table as if his life depended on it, his food pushed to the side. Everyone was staring at him with blatant confusion, but the brunette made no move to explain his apparent rage. “Uh, is everything okay, man?” It was Connie who finally spoke up, leaning towards Eren slightly as he looked at him closely with furrowed brows, only to recoil instantly when Eren snarled at him, low and deep in a manner that had even Mikasa raising her eyebrows in surprise. Jean looked like he was about to come to Connie’s defense, his mouth open and body positioned half way over the table already, only to go completely still and snap his mouth shut when a hand came down hard on Eren’s shoulder.

Levi stood behind the shifter, scowling down at him and everyone could see exactly how much force he was gripping the brunette with. “Apologize to your friend, brat.” His voice was sharp and cold, his expression openly daring Eren to defy him. With gritted teeth, Eren hissed out a half-assed apology to his comrade, though his eyes remained locked with and scowling at Levi. “Up. We’re going to meet with Erwin and Hanji…unless you’d prefer to stay here.” Eren was released with a small push and Levi shrugged, already on his way to the exist. Mikasa had rarely seen Eren move as quickly as he did then, following after Levi in an instant, leaving the rest of the recruits confused and worked up.

They walked in what would have been silence if it wasn’t for Eren’s incessant question asking about if he knew what was going on or if Armin was okay or if he could go see him. Finally, Levi threw open the door to Erwin’s office with entirely more force than was needed. “Why the fuck did I have to bring the brat?” He huffed, dropping down into one of the chairs in front of the commander’s desk, next to one that was currently occupied by an ecstatic looking Hanji, leaving Eren to stand awkwardly in the doorway. “Because he’s aware of Armin’s dynamic and as such deserves to be informed about…exactly what that means and what is expected of him. I trust you haven’t told anyone about this, yes Eren?” The commander asked, looking expectantly over to the brunette. Scuffing his feet against the floors, Eren nodded his head in quick jerks. “People asked why he was gone, but I didn’t say. Can I go see him now? And what do you mean by _what is expected of me?_ ”

Erwin looked slightly exasperated at his behavior, Levi looked ready to kill a man or twelve and Hanji looked as thrilled as they always were. “He’s an _omega,_ Eren!” They said, grinning broadly at him like that magically explained everything. It took several bland blinks from the other brunette for them to sigh and lean back for Levi to take their place. “Someone a while ago made damn sure that they killed off every omega out there as well as most of the information on them. Armin’s an omega. Which means people probably want him dead. He’s in heat right now, you’re a big boy now, you’ve gone through it too, which is why he pulled on every damn dominant instinct you had last night. Omegas call to us, almost their entire purpose is to provide the strongest possible offspring for their alphas so we want them, us even more because we’ve never been exposed to one before. So _no,_ you can’t see him and if you say anything about him being an omega, you’ve basically gone and got the brat killed.”

“But we can smell him.” Eren deadpanned to the group, as if they hadn’t already thought of that. “No you fucktard, we can’t.” Levi hissed until Erwin held up a hand to silence him. “We _can_ smell him, but we only recognize that his smell equals omega because we were told he was one. If we didn’t know, we’d have no idea he was anything different than someone who happened to smell particularly good. And while _yes-”_ Again he held up a hand, though this time it was to stop Eren who had opened his mouth to speak again, “his scent is going to be stronger now that he’s displayed, but it won’t even be a fraction of what we were smelling last night.” Grinding his teeth together, Eren looked at the ground and scuffed his feet against the floor again.

“Then why can’t I see him?” He finally asked, looking to Hanji with narrowed eyes. Levi groaned loudly, rolling his head against the back of the seat as he muttered something under his breath and Hanji snickered before turning their eyes on Eren. “Because, like Levi said, he’s in his heat which means if we let you go see him, you’re probably going to want to mate with him and he won’t stop you because he’s too delirious. Its why only Moblit and I have been down to check on him and will continue to. Though I will admit I’m curious as to how he’d react if a familiar beta went down there. He’s good friends with Bodt and Fubar, isn’t he?” But Eren wasn’t listening to her, looking to Erwin with desperate eyes instead. “I can still go see him, I’ll stay behind the bars and Moblit can go with me. He’s my best friend I have to know he’s okay.” One step short of begging on his knees, Eren fidgeted in place until Levi spoke up again.

“No you won’t. You’re already too worked up about him. You were growling at your friends earlier for no reason, you’re not in any shape to be around him and we wouldn’t torture Moblit by making him try to drag you away if you decided not to leave. It’s not up for discussion. And you’re late for training with Petra and Erd, time for you to fuck off now.” The two locked glares until Eren was slamming his fist against a wall as he retreated. Once the door closed, Levi let out an exasperated sigh and turned to Erwin, raising an eyebrow.

After several minutes of Levi staring at the two geniuses in the room, who both had their brows furrowed in what he only assumed was deep thought, Hanji spoke up. “I still think it would be best for someone to work the heat out of him. From what I’ve read, back in the day when there were packs the pack’s alpha would take omegas through their heats until they found a mate, or partner rather. As long as the alpha didn’t end up bonding or mating with them, it lessens the strain on the omega’s system. Especially for Armin, seeing as he was exposed to three of you the first night of his first heat, poor boy. He’s probably halfway to insanity by now.” “Well Erwin, you’re our… _pack’s_ alpha. Go fuck the boy until he can think straight” Levi said, jerking his head towards the door.

Chuckling under his breath, Erwin shook his head, leaning his chin on a large hand as he regarded Levi. “I wouldn’t be a good fit for him. If anyone’s going to be helping Armin it’ll be you.” He said with a resolute nod, as if that was that. Levi laughed. His head fell so he was facing his own chest and his back shook slightly before he cleared his throat and looked back at the commander. “I think you’ve lost your wits, old man. Besides we can always throw Eren in with him after all and let the two fuck like rabbits.” But Erwin was shaking his head and Hanji mirrored the action. “No. Eren doesn’t have nearly enough self control, but you do. I have a meeting with the king later, so I can’t. No one else knows about Armin nor should they. That leaves you, Levi.” Scowling at his commander, Levi’s head snapped to the right when Hanji spoke up again. “He’s right, Levi. You’ve got enough control over your dynamic to not accidentally bond with him or something and Erwin won’t be around to help out for a few days.”

Rolling his eyes, Levi was out the door, muttering something about shitty brains and their shitty plans. When a click sounded, signaling the close of the door, Hanji turned back to Erwin, their eyes alight with glee. “An _omega,_ Erwin. Do you know what this means for us?” “I’m more concerned about what this means for _him,_ Hanji. Someone made it damn clear they didn’t want any more omegas and while whoever it was may be long gone now…people like that tend to leave behind legacies. We’re going to have to tell him everything, but I don’t want him to take any drastic measures if he thinks he’s become a burden to us. I value his mind far too much to lose it.” The two spent the rest of their day digging through the archives with Moblit’s assistance for any information they could find on omegas and the other dynamics.

Meanwhile, Levi was regretting ever getting involved with this whole omega bullshit. It wasn’t that he _wasn’t_ attracted to the blonde or that the glares he got from Eren all day bothered him; rather it was _how much_ Armin’s scent had appealed to him. Levi liked being in control and considering his dynamic, that wasn’t much of a surprise, but the brat had made him act like a lust-ridden teenager by just being what he was. At least he was able to take out some of his frustration beforehand, he thought while knocking Eren into the dirt for what must had been the twelfth time in half an hour. The brunette was all snarling rage, even in practice and Levi could understand why neither Hanji nor Erwin trusted him around the newly discovered omega, despite them being ‘best friends’.

“Springer!” The teen snapped to attention, out of his spar with Bertholdt that had been obviously one-sided when Levi once again kicked Eren to the ground. “He needs to spar against someone a bit more his speed and after this morning, I’m sure you’d like a chance to knock the hell out of him. Fubar, break for a bit then join in another group. Petra, Erd, have them finish up when you think is best, I have something I need to do.” Like fuck that blonde kid currently locked up in the dungeon that these other brats haven’t stopped asking about all day. For someone who seemed to have such low self esteem, Armin sure had a lot of people concerned about his wellbeing. Levi chuckled as he walked, trying to imagine how each of them would react if they knew exactly what was about to happen.

            He should have stopped to take a shower, or at least change into different clothing, but considering how they were likely to be torn off in several minutes time, something told Levi it wasn’t that big of a deal. Not like he was taking Armin on a date. Swinging a key he nabbed from Moblit around his finger, he strolled down the familiar halls of the dungeon and already he could hear Armin’s breath echoing across the stones. The faintest hints of the omega’s sugary scent were already permeating the air near the entrance and Levi resisted the urge to cover his face with a hand, choosing instead to take a small breath and close his eyes, indulging in the way heat pooled in the bottom of his stomach. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to perform, Levi thought bitterly, scowling at the way the blonde pulled such strong reactions from him when they weren’t even in the same room.

When Levi finally came to a stop outside of Armin’s cell he was breathing through his mouth, the air too thick with his scent for the corporal to fully stomach. Armin was there, of course, but he seemed to have given up on relieving himself as he had been the last time Levi saw him. Instead he was curled into a ball on his side with his back to the door and as soon as Levi had stepped up to his cell, what were harsh pants twisted into long, drawn out whines as he squirmed, his hips rolling into the air for some kind of friction. Mentally bracing himself, Levi unlocked the cage and slipped in, moving past trays of uneaten food until he was laying his hand against the blonde’s sweaty shoulder.

Armin reacted like he had been stabbed, jerking away from his hand only to flip around and stare at his corporal, blue eyes wide and completely fogged over. Then, he was reaching out desperately to cling to Levi’s shirt, moving up to his knees so he could mouth desperately at the older man’s neck. The small hands tugged and pulled impatiently at the material of his shirt before settling for slipping under the hem to feel his skin and he was rutting against Levi’s leg, his breath hot against the sensitive gland on the side of his neck.

Levi remained still for all of a minute until he let go, his instincts kicking into overdrive. One hand reached up and buried itself into Armin’s hair, only to grab it in a fist and pull him back, guiding the small body until he was forced down on the bed. Levi’s shirt was off and his pants unbuttoned while he stared intently at the omega that was wriggling and moaning on the bed, staring straight back at him with half-lidded eyes. Again Levi had to wrap his fingers in the corn silk hair and force him down when Armin lunged to touch him again. “Stay.” The word came from his chest as a deep growl and the blonde’s back arched in response, but he _obeyed_. And it was the image of an omega obeying his command that had Levi scrambling for control as he groaned deeply.

Then, he was kneeling next to Armin and gripping his chin with enough force to bruise, tipping his head back to claim his mouth in a heated kiss. There was no playing for dominance, no fighting. The blonde gave way immediately, moaning lewdly into his mouth before sucking on the corporal’s tongue while his trembling hands delved into Levi’s hair, tugging lightly before sliding down to scratch along the sides of his neck, right against the glands. And Levi’s control snapped. Armin’s hands were ripped away with a snarl and he was shoved back, one of Levi’s hands splayed against his flushed chest. Bites were laid on the blonde’s lips and neck, working their way down until Levi had one nipple tightly between his teeth and the other pinched between his fingers while Armin practically wailed above him.

Taking a deep breath against the omega’s skin, Levi pulled away and before he could say anything, Armin was already flipping over. The small blonde pressed his torso as tightly against the bed as possible, but kept his ass in the air and spread his legs as far as he could. His body strained with the stretch on his limbs, yet somehow Armin still managed to wave his ass invitingly, swaying back and forth under the alpha’s hungry gaze. Levi was on him again, one hand putting pressure on his back to keep him pinned while the other groped at the flesh of his ass cheek, massaging the globe heavily in his hand. His body thrummed with pleasure at someone submitting so completely and willingly to him and the corporal couldn’t hold back a groan when he rubbed his fingers over Armin’s entrance, finding it already slick and pliant.

Draping his body over the blonde’s, Levi mouthed at the back of his neck and slowly pressed one finger into him. The heat that gripped him was beyond incredible and sent another intense rush of blood to the alpha’s cock knowing he would get to feel it wrapped around him soon. Sliding his finger out carefully, he paused before thrusting two back in, listening to the way Armin moaned and gasped beneath him. For as rushed as he felt, Levi’s movements were almost lethargic and he took his time spreading the blonde open and rubbing at his walls, despite the blonde’s frantic begging for more, he memorized every little spot that made him go wild. Armin’s hair was stuck to his face and neck and he finally screamed, eyes rolling back and cock jerking as he came when Levi dug three fingers hard into his prostate.

But the heat wasn’t letting up, wouldn’t let up until the alpha took him, so through the tears from overstimulation he still shook his ass in Levi’s face, whining desperately for more. Levi was off the mattress for all of five seconds to rip his pants off like they were lava before he was forcing the omega down again, digging his teeth into his shoulder blade as he lined himself up with Armin’s entrance and slid his cock home in the little blonde, his hips snapping against Armin’s ass with one solid thrust.

Armin was still, his mouth partially open and hands gripping at the sheets while he tried to adjust to the foreign feeling of having another person inside of him. It was intense and despite how much slick his body produced, there was a small sharp pain that resonated up his spine. Taking harsh, deep breaths the blonde realized Levi was waiting for him, for some signal to do something. So Armin wiggled, the rolled his lips, allowing the alpha’s erection to slip out of him only to buck his hips back again and Levi was snarling when Armin whined, his muscles clamping down tightly. The small roll must have just missed his prostate and it left him starving for more, his body going into auto drive with the gentle grinding of his hips against Levi’s.  But it wasn’t _enough_ and before he knew it, Armin was babbling into the sheets, begging the other man to fuck him.

Levi had been watching the omega grind back on him in awe while he attempted to reign in his instincts to simply pin the blonde and fuck him until he couldn’t speak anymore. But when lewd words began to slip from Armin’s swollen lips, he complied. Drawing his hips back again, Levi paused only for a moment before thrusting forward, eyes on the boy beneath him who moaned in delight. “ _Fuck!”_ The word signaled the end of the corporal’s self control. And omega was spread out in front of him begging for his cock in words he didn’t think the blonde even knew. To hell with being proper, his instincts wouldn’t let him pass up the opportunity to make the blonde scream his name. Armin was getting the pounding of his life and obviously enjoying it. Every thrust from Levi he tried to meet with his own, though his entire body shook and trembled with unreleased tension.

Above him, Levi was panting and growling with one hand planted firmly on Armin’s back while the other gripped his hair tightly, forcing his head up from the bed. His head was tucked low and occasionally he would lean down to sink his teeth possessively into the blonde, leaving his mark on the omega in a way that made his blood sing. It wasn’t surprising both of them were worked to the edge so quickly. “You’re going to scream my fucking name when you come on my cock, Armin. Let me hear it. Scream for me. _Now.”_ The words were snarled against Armin’s ear when Levi’s thrusts began to falter and lose their rhythm. Then, Levi was moaning with his head thrown back as the blonde milked his orgasm from him, followed instantly by his own. And gods did Armin scream his name so perfectly.

Harsh breaths fell against the blonde’s neck as his corporal tried to recover from what he could only describe as the most intense orgasm of his life. Minutes passed in silence before he was pulling away from Armin to sit back on his haunches and watch in fascination the lewd way his seed dripped down the omega’s thighs. He didn’t know how long he had been staring until quiet sobs caught his attention. Armin was crying, his face buried in his hands and it jerked on Levi’s emotions in a way it shouldn’t have.

“Hey, quiet now.” He said, moving so he was sitting close enough to pull Armin’s hands away from his face. The blonde was red faced and refused to look at Levi, his legs curling into himself with a modesty he hadn’t possessed only moments ago. Humiliated, Levi realized. Armin felt humiliated. Not giving himself a chance to question his actions, he had the omega in his arms and was hushing him with quiet words of comfort…or at least, as comforting as Levi could be when he just had the fuck of his life and was still stark naked in a dungeon. “We’ll explain everything to you soon, but you need to eat now.” Levi reassured him, now trying to detach the sobbing boy from where he had clung to the corporal. Eventually, Levi caved and simply scooped him up to grab one of the trays of food before sitting down again.

He sat there, feeding bits and pieces of food to Armin who still refused to meet his eyes, until the blonde fell into a sleep that he knew would last at the most an hour before his heat resurfaced. Running a hand through his hair the corporal watched him sleep for several minutes before realizing how creepy he probably seemed – how creepy he was probably acting. Muttering to himself over omegas and complications, he quickly dressed himself and left the cell, casting one final look back at the sleeping boy before leaving. He needed to shower then have a long talk with Hanji and the brat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I considered Erwin and Eren for le sexualness, but I feel like Erwin would have treated it like a job and that would make things hella awkotaco between him and Armin, which is not what I want - and on the flip side Eren would have like...zero self control which, again, not exactly what I want between him and Armin.  
> I don't know.  
> I'm ill.   
> I'm going to sleep now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW It's been almost a week since I updated this, sorry about that. I'm still recovering a bit from being sick and I've been hella busy with school stuff and wedding stuff and job stuff, ya know, stuff. But now there's an update and I'm either going to /try/ to get two chapters out today or just add a chapter to A Soul To Warm (which more people should read because I'm in love with it justsayin). As always, thank everyone for the incredible feedback I've been given and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep it up, it helps me more than I can put into words (even if it's just suggestions or headcanons or something I love them). I'm always contactable through tumblr, please enjoy and I hope you have a beautiful day~ ^^

Levi sat in Hanji’s lab, tapping his fingers against a wooden table while they bounced around excitedly and rambled about everything they had been able to find on omegas. Admittedly, it wasn’t much, but it was more than any of them had paid attention to before. It was almost worrying to know that an omega was in their possession and Levi was certain no good would come from it after playing a firsthand role in how powerful of an effect Armin had. “Oh, Eren!” It was Hanji’s exclamation that had Levi snapping back into reality. Standing in the doorway was Eren, glaring at nothing like he was constipated. Levi deduced that was simply his grumpy look. “You had to invite him?” Levi grunted, rolling his eyes when the teen stomped into the room and sat across from the corporal. “He’s Armin’s best friend and we promised to keep him clued into what was going on. Actually, I was thinking maybe if we let him go see Armin he’d be able to-.”

“ _No_.” The word that came from Levi’s mouth was almost a snarl and held a tone of finalism that had Hanji raising their eyebrows in question. Eren opened his mouth, ready to defend Hanji’s idea, but Levi’s glare was turned on him, leading the brunette to snapping his mouth shut. “If I lost control around Arlert, he wouldn’t stand a chance. We’re just going to have to wait until he’s finished with his heat to talk to him.” Eren was across the table in an instant, slamming his hands down on the wood, fury apparent on his face. “What the fuck do you mean you _lost control_ around him?” He was gnashing his teeth together and his entire body was trembling just slightly. Levi could practically feel the rage rolling off of him, but it was more amusing to the experienced man rather than intimidating or frightening.

“I mean I was sent down there to try to lessen his heat and found out just how powerful an omega in heat is to an alpha.” Levi deadpanned. But there was a small hint of amusement, a taunt in his eyes that had Eren’s knuckles going white with the force he was gripping the table. “It was my idea.” Hanji rushed in, wrapping their fingers around Eren’s arms and forcing him back into the chair. “By the way, how did that go?” Their eyes were back on Levi, the expectant gleam back on their expression. Levi shrugged. “He calmed down enough to eat afterwards, but he wouldn’t look at me. When I left his cell he was asleep, but I’m certain he’s awake by now. You should have Moblit go check if his heat has lessened any.” The corporal responded, resting his chin on a hand and ignoring the enraged growls from Eren as he spoke.

Hanji seemed to contemplate the suggestion before nodding and pulling out several old pieces of paper, loosely bound in leather. Setting them on the table between Levi and Eren, they grinned. “Try not to kill each other while I’m gone, I’m going to go check on our omega.” Their hands were clasped together as they flounced out of the room, leaving the two alphas to scowling at each other. Levi was the first to move, grabbing one of the articles while Eren seemed lost in space, his eyes somewhere far away. He almost made it from cover to end in the horrifically boring essay about omegas birthing process when Levi was knocked off his chair by Eren, who lifted off him only to slam him back against the ground.

“ _You fucked by best friend!_ ” Eren shrieked, pulling his fist back before swinging it down at Levi. Having been dazed by the impact his head made with the ground, Levi barely had time to turn his face to the side, Eren’s fist grazing his cheek while the younger alpha raged above him. “He’s _mine!_ He’s always been mine!” Gritting his teeth in annoyance, Levi flipped the younger man off of him with ease, switching their positions so his knee was digging painfully into Eren’s lungs. Curling one of his hands in the mop of brown hair, Levi wretched up Eren’s head until the two were nose to nose with each other and waited until Eren let out a pained grunt to speak. “Listen brat and listen damn well because you’re starting to really piss me off.” Levi’s words were hissed out from between gritted teeth. “The last time I checked Arlert doesn’t belong to anyone other than himself. I don’t care if he’s your best friend, he was miserable and in pain and if me fucking it out of him made him feel better you should be _grateful_. This kind of behavior is exactly why I’m not going to let you _anywhere_ near him until you can show a little bit of self control. I’m still your superior, Eren. Don’t forget that I can assign you to a squad where you’ll never get to see him again.”

The sound of footsteps stopping in the doorway pulled the men out of the silence that had taken over once Levi stopped talking, his threat hanging heavily in the air. “…Am I interrupting?” Hanji finally asked, smirking as they leant against the doorframe. Rolling his eyes, Levi shoved Eren into the ground once more for good measure, then rose and took his seat again. “These are crap.” He muttered, gesturing to the documents Hanji had been so excited over earlier. Looking offended, Hanji huffed and picked them back up, clutching them to their chest. “They’re _information,_ Levi! What if we needed to know how to help Armin give birth? We wouldn’t assume that we couldn’t give him an anesthetic or that we shouldn’t separate the child from him.” “ _Birth?!”_ Eren’s undignified squawk sounded from where he was still laying on the ground. His scowl was back in full force and aimed at Levi who simply massaged his temples with a groan.

“Sure! Omegas are the natural mate for alphas and they’re practically made for having children.” They chirped, until they caught the look on Eren’s face and a grin bloomed across Hanji’s face. Suddenly, they were laughing heartily, their hands wrapped tightly around their ribs. “Jeez, maybe we should teach sex ed in the military as well. Eren, there’s no way for an omega to get pregnant unless they are knotted. Levi certainly didn’t do so to Armin, you have nothing to worry about.”

Eren had flushed an indignant red and had his arms crossed tightly against his chest, which he puffed out in defiance. “How was I supposed to know that? We don’t exactly get omega 101 in school nowadays they kind of _didn’t exist_ for a while until just now.” He protested, finally standing and walking towards the door, where he paused. “The only reason I came here is because you were going to tell me how Armin’s doing.” “No, the reason you came here is because an officer told you to.” Levi interjected, leaning back in his chair before Hanji could speak. The research captain looked between the two alphas before chuckling and shaking their head. “Yes, yes. Levi’s assumption is correct, he fell back into his heat but it doesn’t seem as severe as it was before. Or if it was, he is already learning how to cope with it. From what I’ve read it’ll last for three to five days, so he should be back to normal soon.”

With a grunt and a nod, Eren left the room. Snorting and pushing his hair away from his forehead, Levi glanced over at Hanji. “When is Erwin going to be back? I’m sure he’ll want to know anything you can tell him.” “He said it was a short meeting, so he should be back in the morning. We can meet for breakfast with Mike like we did back in the day! I’m sure Erwin wouldn’t mind telling him about our omega.” They said excitedly, clasping their hands together. Levi only rolled his eyes in response and stared up at the ceiling. “I’m sure he wouldn’t, but the more people we tell the higher chance of it getting out. Already the others from the 104th are questioning his absence. For someone with such low self esteem, Arlert sure has a lot of people worried about him.” The corporal commented. He rose from his seat and made it several steps out of the room before pausing to call back to Hanji. “I think we’ll find it for the best if you up the security for the basement. The last thing I want to deal with is that idiot having broken in to see Armin only to knock the kid up or accidentally mate with him.”

The next morning, Levi found himself in a similar situation: staring up at the ceiling in boredom while Hanji energetically rambled to Erwin about everything they had found out in the past forty eight hours. Mike was present for it and the gentle giant sat in silence while he patiently listened to every fact Hanji threw at them, occasionally bending out of the way to avoid an arm to the face. Erwin seemed to listen with more intensity, leaning forward slightly in his chair with both of his palms resting against his desk while his researcher went over how, despite having an alpha attempt to ease his heat, Armin already seemed rather deeply in the grey space of it again.

There was a brief moment of silence when Hanji finally stopped, staring at the three men in the room with wide-eyed glee as they waited for a response. Erwin was the first to speak, sighing and leaning back in his chair. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait for him to get over it by himself.” The commander spoke, sympathy lacing every word. “Or you could go try to fuck it out of him.” Levi said with a snort, his lips curling up into a small smirk when he watched Erwin give him that scolding look. “Or there’s always Eren.” Hanji offered, only to be silenced with another aggressive ‘ _No!’_ from Levi. Already being informed of the small confrontation between Levi and Eren the night before, Mike and Erwin only chuckled at Levi’s response, the two blonde men sharing a look of amusement between them.

  “Careful there, Levi. We may get the feeling that you’ve become attached to cadet Arlert. Maybe even that you _like_ him.” It was Mike’s rumbling voice that teased the corporal and Hanji was immediately on board, giggling with the huge man. “Levi, we’re all friends here, you can gossip about your crush in safety.” They said, holding a hand over their heart with a broad grin. “Both of you can go fuck yourselves. I just think the kid deserves better than having Jaeger drool all over him in some teenage hormonal haze.” Levi scoffed, rolling his eyes. “You can’t really blame him for being concerned, from what I’ve heart he, Ackerman and Arlert have all been close since they were children.” Erwin spoke calmly, obnoxious amusement still twinkling in his eyes. “In all seriousness, Hanji you said he hasn’t touched the food except what Levi was able to give him after their…ah, time together?” Hanji nodded in response. “Then I’d like you to stop sending people down to check on him. It may be the constant shift of pheromones that is worsening his heat beyond what it needs to be. In another forty eight hours go check on him again yourself, unless you hear him calling coherently before then.” Before Hanji could continue on about more facts they had found, Levi and Mike quickly dismissed themselves from the room, sharing a short look of exasperation. With nods to the other, they went their separate ways, the thought of Armin fresh in everyone’s mind.

For the next two days, Eren was in a constant state of rage, Levi was eternally pissed off and Erwin was more stressed than he had been in years. No one was fooled about Armin’s whereabouts and questions were getting harder to dodge around. Eventually, Levi gave in and handed his squad over to Petra and Erd for training. More than anything he wanted to avoid having to deal with Eren’s childish glares and jabs at him whenever he thought Levi was just out of earshot. Unfortunately, avoiding Eren meant Levi spent the two days lounging around Erwin’s office or Hanji’s lab and the more time they spent together, the more tension rose between them. Even without being near them, Armin was continuing to drive everyone insane by merely _existing._

Erwin sat at his desk, trying to review several strategies for explorations outside of the wall they had planned for a month from then, but he was finding it difficult to focus when so many other thoughts were floating around. With a quiet groan he dropped his head down into his hands and sighed when someone began pounding on his door. “If this isn’t important, please come back later.” He called out, his voice surprisingly even despite how tense he was. “Commander, Hanji told me just to tell you ‘he’s fine now’, Sir. They said you would find it important.” Came the voice from a soldier outside the door and Erwin almost sighed with relief. “Thank you, you’re dismissed.” He replied, shuffling his papers into an orderly pile on the desk. Maybe Armin being awake would get this omega business settled so Levi and Eren would calm down and cease interrupting his work constantly with complaints about the other.

When Erwin left his office, he moved with a purpose past the soldiers who instantly froze and saluted at the sight of him. “Please notify Eren and Levi to meet in my office and clear out anyone in the bathing areas.” He said to Hanji, who was bouncing excitedly on their heels outside of the door to the basement. There was a small flash of disappointment before a nod of understanding came and they were off, trying to contain their obvious glee. Erwin steeled himself for however Armin may react to seeing anyone as he made his way down the steps and towards the younger blonde’s cell.

Armin was sitting on his bed, curled up tightly into himself with his head buried against his knees. There was obvious shame in the posture and he kept himself as covered as he could for some attempt at modesty. Erwin watched his eyes flick up from under his bangs, him register that the commander of the Survey Corps was standing out his door and then Erwin was cringing at the quiet sob Armin let out and was in his cell in an instant. “Armin. Look at me please.” He said gently, kneeling in front of Armin’s bed and resting a hand on his shoulder. The smaller blonde shook his head, his sobs sounding louder and louder while he began to tremble, digging his nails into the flesh of his ribs.

“Enough, stop that, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Erwin scolded lightly, forcing Armin’s hands away from himself. “I know you’re probably scared and confused and that’s okay, Armin. We’ll explain everything to you soon, but would you like to bathe first?” It was as if the question was Armin’s first reconciliation that he had been laying covered in sweat and semen on a bed for the past four days and his face lit up red, bright with embarrassment. Erwin was worried that he would start crying again, only to be relieved when he sniffled and nodded, but didn’t make a move. “I’m assuming you also want something to wear.” He had come prepared with one of his shirts that was sure to be long enough to cover him completely and a pair of undergarments. Passing the clothing to Armin, he respectfully turned his back to the boy until a meek voice caught his attention.

“U-um, can we go now, Sir?” Armin was standing on shaky legs behind him, fully clothed in the baggy shirt which he pulled nervously at the hem to. With a nod, Erwin guided him from the cell, careful to keep his hand on the smaller blonde’s shoulder when he noted how unstable he was. But Armin managed to walk to the washroom on his own, his steps growing more confident when he grew accustomed to using his legs again. “Do you want me to bathe you or are you alright on your own?” Armin once again turned red when the question was posed and quickly squeaked out his reply, shooing Erwin from the stall, though the commander insisted on waiting just outside in case he needed anything.

For once, Armin allowed himself to indulge. His memories of the past few days were hazy and painful. He remembered collapsing outside, being too hot for him to humanly handle. There were also vague memories of Levi, though the more he thought on them and realized what had happened, the more he wished he never had. Then there was agony again. His entire body still ached, but the warm water he sat in worked to soothe the tense muscles. In short, Armin’s mind was a mess. He knew what heats were, but had never considered the possibility for him to be an alpha. His personality was far from dominant and he had none of the defining physical characteristics either. That and what he and Levi did didn’t make _sense._

With a groan, he dropped his head into his hands and finally got to cleaning himself of the sweat and grime that accumulated on his skin. The higher class washrooms were a treat he had never experienced before. The water never got cold and the shelves were lined with weird products, though all of them had a nice scent. He would have to thank the commander for taking him there later. Reminding himself that the commander was indeed waiting for him, Armin sped up the process, thoroughly washing his hair and allowing himself to remain under the stream of the warm water for _just_ a bit longer. Then, he was poking his head out of the stall and blinking bashfully up at the commander. “Um…” He didn’t have to answer. Erwin was already passing him a towel that he murmured a quiet thank you for, wrapping himself up tightly in it before he felt comfortable enough to step out.

But then Erwin was kneeling before him again, holding Armin’s chin carefully between his thumb and forefinger. “May I look you over for any damage you may have done to yourself? Hanji has a salve that works wonders on bruises and strained muscles.” He spoke as carefully as he could, not wanting the startle the already skittish blonde farther. Hesitantly, Armin nodded, but only because there was an ache at the bottom of his spine that was making it difficult for him to even walk normally. “M-my back, at the bottom, it hurts.” He mumbled, scuffing his bare feet against the tiles. Erwin nodded and carefully spun him around, moving the towel away from Armin as slowly as he could. He was completely noninvasive, rubbing the cream gently over the areas Armin directed him to, and several others he noticed himself until he was certain that his brilliant helper would be healing quickly.

“Hanji gave me a change of clothing from your barracks, I hope you don’t mind.” Erwin said, passing the folded clothing into Armin’s hands. “I didn’t want you to get them dirty earlier. If you’d like to get dressed, we can go meet with the others and explain what has been going on.” Armin nodded; dread building up in the bottom of his stomach as he quickly – or as quickly as he could – changed into the spare clothing. Clad in britches and a cotton shirt, he returned to the commander with his head ducked low. Everything he said made it seem like something was terribly, terribly _wrong._ That something had happened to Armin even he shouldn’t know about. He spoke so guardedly about it and very little frightened Armin Arlert more than the thought of once again being a burden to his friends and loved ones.

He and Erwin walked in silence, Armin allowing his thoughts to rage wild with possibilities while Erwin let his concern for the smaller blonde eat away at him slowly. Both were frowning heavily as they navigated the hallways with memorized ease. “Armin, Hanji and Levi should all be here.” He told Armin when they neared the commander’s office. “Don’t look so worried. Nothing bad is going on it’s just…complicated. And different. You’ll see in just a moment. Don’t worry.” Erwin reaffirmed, reaching down to give Armin’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before opening the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna be ooey gooey Eren/Armin and Armin reuniting with Bertl and Marco. Because Armin, Marco and Bertholdt are my babies. I'm so weak for all of them.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uwu I just broke 1,000 views on this story with my last chapter and that's totally loco crazy thank you all so much! This was supposed to be up earlier, but my friend wanted us to watch a show together using my computer BUT IT'S UP NOW. So here, have another chapter with Eremin cuddles and Armin being the precious bb he is in my head. Asssss always, thank you all so much for the great feedback and pretty super duper please keep it up it's SOOOOO helpful to me, tumblr is the best place to contact me should you need to, please enjoy and have a beautiful day~ ^^

Armin stood nervously behind Erwin when the door was open and three sets of eyes were immediately making him the center of attention. Eren was on him in an instant, despite an attempted protest from Levi. He wrapped his arms tightly around the small blonde, almost toppling the two of them over, and buried his face in his best friend’s hair. Having gone rigid at the sudden contact, it took Armin a short moment to return the gesture, but he did all the same. The two teens stood in the doorway tightly holding one another with Armin resting his forehead against Eren’s chest until the brunette pulled away and cupped his cheeks in his hands. “Are you okay? Does anything hurt? God Armin I’m so sorry, I should never have let them send you down there.” He rushed out, staring into Armin’s baby blues with a foreign expression that Armin couldn’t help but smile at. Shaking his head as much as he could with Eren holding him in place, he then leaned his cheek into the familiar touch and closed his eyes. Until he remembered that there were three other people in the room staring at them.

Immediately, Armin flushed and took a step back from Eren, dropping his head so his face was hidden beneath his hair, much to his friend’s distaste. “You can have a seat, Armin.” Erwin said, after clearing his throat to draw their attention. Still a bright red, Armin nodded and moved into the office he had been in more times than he could count, settling down in what had been dubbed as “his” chair months ago. Eren quickly grabbed the seat to his right and, to Armin’s embarrassment, Levi sat to his left, leaving Hanji to bounce up and down on the balls of their feet next to Erwin.

“I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so I’m going to get straight to the point. Armin, you’re an omega.” Erwin looked almost pained as he said the words and all eyes were back on Armin, watching his mouth open and close several times while he tried to grasp words that refused to come. “That’s impossible. Omegas were wiped out years ago.” He finally croaked out, his face seeming to struggle between going pale or turning red again. “It should be, but you are one. What just happened was your first heat. We don’t know why but…well, shit happens.” Levi answered with all of the eloquence and grace he could muster. Armin had settled for going to pale, but his face immediately shifted shades at the memory of what exactly happened in that cell and suddenly he felt an urge to jump from wall Maria.

“I…am I being kicked out?” Tears had welled up in the small blonde’s eyes and he stared at his knees, trying to keep himself from shaking. Eren had opened his mouth, probably to scream something about how he’d never let that happen, but Erwin was faster. “Of course not, you’re far too valuable of a member for us to even consider such a thing, Armin. Nothing is going to change if we can help it. However, there are a few things you should know and after, Hanji will try to answer any questions you may still have.” There was strength in Erwin’s voice that eased Armin’s worry and, though he still couldn’t quite being himself to look at them all eye to eye, he nodded.

“First, we have to ask you not to tell anyone about your dynamic. Someone obviously didn’t want omegas around anymore and we don’t want them coming near you because someone couldn’t help but gossip.” Armin swallowed nervously, his thoughts going to how bad of a liar he was and thoughts on how he would be able to keep something so huge from his friends, Marco and Bertholdt in particular. And someone may be out to kill him. A bunch of people may be out to kill him. Reading the terrified expression on his face, Levi spoke up again. “Rest assured if they try, we’ll kill them. No one’s going to touch you, Armin.” There was an odd tone to his voice, one that Armin had never heard before, and Eren was nodding vigorously along to the corporal’s words. He tried to look up and smile at the two, but it faltered when he caught a view of how, despite their agreement, Eren was still scowling at Levi.

“Additionally, your pheromones have changed, so you may find yourself garnering more attention from others. It’s unlikely they’ll be able to tell you’re an omega as none of us have been exposed to one before, but chances are it is going to…tempt others.” Erwin spoke again, watching with sympathetic eyes as Armin clasped his hands over his face in what could only be extreme embarrassment. But he nodded all the same, and Erwin closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. Every move from the blonde tugged on his heartstrings and all he wanted to do was reassure Armin that everything was okay. “In regards to your heats, we aren’t sure how frequently they’ll occur, but from what Hanji found it should be every few months as opposed to every month like us alphas have. For now, unless we can find an alternative, we’ve concluded that the best thing we can do is keep you down in the dungeon until they’ve passed. We can also always…arrange an alpha to help ease it as Levi did if you’d so choose.”

Armin was sure he was as red as a tomato while Erwin spoke and he nodded as quickly as he could, shying away from the corporal and into Eren’s side. “I don’t think, um, that shouldn’t…no, I don’t think that’ll be necessary thank you.” His voice was several octaves higher than usual when he spoke and he turned to lean his face against Eren’s shoulder, who wrapped his arm tightly around Armin’s waist in response, drawing him as close as possible. With his eyes closed, Armin missed the frown from Levi at his reaction. “Of course. Unfortunately most of the information on omegas was taken out with them, so there isn’t much we know about this. If at any point you feel uncomfortable with someone’s actions towards you or you feel threatened in any way, I have to ask you to come to Levi, Hanji or myself. Now, do you have any questions? I’m afraid if it’s about your dynamic we may not be of much assistance.”

With a deep breath, Armin steeled his nerves and eased away from Eren, sitting up tall in his seat. He was _not_ going to let this get to him, wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life red and blushing at any mention of his dynamic. He was just going to have to deal with it and move on. Clearing his throat, he brushed his hair back and spoke. “You said that I couldn’t tell anyone about my dynamic. What did you tell my friends about my absence?” “We told them that you were sick, but Fubar, Bodt and Ackerman didn’t buy it from the start. From about yesterday, none of them did. Erwin, this whole hiding him thing isn’t going to work out with that lot, especially if he suddenly disappears once every few months.” It was Levi who spoke up again, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in the chair. “Um, sir? I…I’m sorry, but I agree. Mikasa has known me since we were kids so she knows I almost never get sick and Marco can tell when anyone’s lying.” Armin said, forcing himself to remain straight up in his chair.

Erwin sighed and rested his chin on a hand, regarding the three men in front of him. “I can understand that, but the more people who know the more we risk your dynamic being found out by someone…less desirable.” He responded with another sigh, the conflict written all over his face. “Actually,” Hanji butted in, “I’ve been thinking maybe it’s not so bad of an idea that the world knows we have an omega. It would start small, of course, Armin could tell his friends the truth and if it got out, it would spread slowly for rumors. But everyone would know that the entire Survey Corps has his back. If nothing else, it may help us find some more information and maybe even take out the people who went after omegas in the first place.” They explained, gesturing wildly with their hands.

“That’s a terrible idea. Use Armin as bait for the people who killed hundreds of omegas? Do you want to get him killed?” It was Levi who snapped at Hanji first and Eren was right behind her. “You can’t just say he wouldn’t be in danger because we’re willing to protect him!” Erwin held up a hand, silencing Eren and looking towards Armin. “I do believe that this should be Armin’s decision. Hanji has a point, it would give us access to a lot more information about omegas and we may be able to find those who went after the omegas, but it would put you in a more dangerous position. You can decide which you would prefer.” Armin had been sitting rigidly in his seat, his knuckles white with the amount of force he was using to grip the hem of his shirt. “I…um…” His eyes closed tightly and he dropped his head, taking a deep breath and pushing his insecurities to the side so he could focus on the situation.

Tell people and he puts himself in danger, along with all of his friends. Don’t tell and they’d know he was lying and potentially lose trust in him. It was a lose-lose situation. “If it’s alright with you, commander, I think I would prefer to tell my friends. Lying to them would only start conflict.” He answered, opening his eyes to look up at Erwin. The older man smiled back at him and nodded. “Alright, if that’s what you think is best I trust your decision.” He responded, folding his hands together and leaning back. “Do you have any more questions?” Armin contemplated it to the best of his abilities with the influence of the shock and knowledge of how little they actually knew. “I don’t think so. Not right now.” “If you ever have questions, just let Hanji or I know and we’ll do our best. If that’s all, you may all leave now. Armin, I’m sure you’d like to see your friends again.”

Giving his thanks to everyone, Armin left by Eren’s side and they walked in silence to the mess hall, nerves wracking his body. A nudge against his shoulder brought his attention back to his friend, who beamed down at him and nudged him again. “Don’t worry about anything, Armin. Everyone’s going to be happy to see you all safe and sound.” Armin couldn’t help but smile warmly back at the brunette and nodded. “Yeah...I just…I don’t know how to tell them.” “ _Well,_ I think you should announce it to the entire group, make it dramatic and if anyone reacts badly then you and I can run away together.”

Armin was giggling under his breath and nodded again as they entered the mess hall. The second the blonde crossed the threshold, there was a shout. “Hey! Armin!” Standing on their table was Connie waving his hands dramatically. Everyone else was staring at them and while Armin shrank beneath the attention, Eren just grinned and grabbed his arm, moving to tug him towards the table, but Armin stopped him. “I, uh, I’m really hungry Eren.” He whispered, blushing slightly when his stomach growled. As if only just realizing that Armin hadn’t eaten a real meal in days, Eren’s eyes widened. Giving a smile and wave to their friends, and not letting go of Armin’s arm, they quickly filled their plates to the brim before joining the table.

Despite the loud welcome, Armin was confused when no one spoke as soon as he and Eren sat down. They all ate in silence, Armin casting glances with a furrowed brow around the group until he noticed it. Any time someone made a move to speak, they were glared down by Mikasa or elbowed by Marco and Bertholdt seemed occupied with crushing Reiner’s arm in his hand. It hit him like a punch, how good his friends were to him, and he suddenly smiled warmly and pushed his empty tray away. “So it turns out I’m an omega.” He wasn’t sure where the sudden burst of confidence came from, or why the hell he chose to blurt it out like it was the most casual thing in the world, but everyone froze and turned to stare at him in shock.

“What? I don’t think I heard you right.” Sasha was gaping at him, for once her food forgotten in her own surprise and already, whatever confidence Armin had found was gone and he recoiled slightly under the intense gazes. “I’m, uh, my dynamic is uh, I’m an omega.” Nowhere near the strong voice he had spoken in before, he was squeaking now and dropped his head down. “Omegas don’t exist, Arm.” Armin couldn’t help but cringe when Jean said the words before he burst into laughter, pounding his fist against the table. The small blonde’s eyes welled up in tears and he shrugged off Eren’s hand when his friend tried to comfort him. His teeth were digging brutally into his bottom lip when the laughter spread, Reiner, Connie and Sasha joining in with Jean.

Suddenly there was a nose up against his neck and Eren was snarling in a way Armin had never heard before, forcing the body away from him. Ymir sat back in her chair, ignoring the way Eren looked like he was about to tear her throat out, and raised her eyebrows. “I’ll be damned, he sure does smell good. Not like any beta I’ve ever smelled before.” Next to her, Krista was scolding her for having approached him like that and Reiner tried to lunge towards him to do the same, only to be slammed back into his seat by Bertholdt in a rare display of strength. Jean had stopped laughing and out of nowhere his nose was against Armin’s neck as well, sniffing for his scent. Maybe it was the fact he was another alpha or that he was Eren’s rival that had Eren knocking him out of his seat and onto the floor, both ignoring Marco’s protests.

They may have started a brawl right then and there had Mikasa not dragged Eren away while Marco took over pinning Jean down, both of them lecturing the temperamental alphas. Meanwhile, that feeling of dread that had disappeared from Armin was back full force and he sniffled, dropping his head down and squeezing his eyes closed tightly. He had thought telling his friends would make things better, not have them fighting. But Bertholdt and Krista were at his sides immediately, the taller man with his arm wrapped around Armin’s shoulder in a familiar way and the other blonde chattering on about how cool it was that he was an omega. Everyone else at the table seemed to have lost interest entirely, though Armin knew they were only holding back their questions for his sake.

“Hey Arm, do you want to go for a walk? You’ve been missing out on work for a while, so the least you can do is help Bertl and I with the horses.” Marco chimed happily, one hand keeping Jean pinned to the ground still. Grateful for the opportunity to leave, Armin was up out of his seat and halfway across the room in an instant, the two betas close behind him, leaving the rest of their group to scold Eren and Jean for their actions and upsetting Armin. Said blonde let out a deep sigh when they got far enough away from the mess hall, collapsing into the grass near the stables face down. “An omega, huh? Who else knows?” Marco asked, still smiling brightly when he dropped down next to Armin, with Bertholdt on his other side. “Just the commander, corporal and Hanji. But…I decided not to keep it a secret. Maybe I should have.” He muttered into the grass, pulling out blades with his fists.

“You know Jean and Eren both have quick tempers and Eren’s fuse has been really short lately.” It was Bertholdt’s soothing voice and his hand on Armin’s shoulder that had the blonde rolling over with a groan, covering his face with an arm. “I just don’t understand why he feels the need to fight anyone who comes near me. They said nothing would change now that I know my dynamic, but I can already tell from that look in his eye that he’s going to baby me again. I’m not as weak as I was before.” Noting just how dejected their friend sounded at his own words, Marco and Bertholdt exchanged a look before each of them grabbed one of his arms and hauled him to his feet. “Yeah? Well too bad for Eren because we’re not going anywhere.” Marco said, catching Armin in a headlock and ruffling up his hair. “Now c’mon, we brought you out here to _help,_ not just laze around on your cute ass.”

With Armin barking protests about the phrase ‘cute ass’, Marco scooped him up effortlessly and carried him into the stables, only to drop him in a pile of hay with Bertholdt laughing along behind them. They did their work quickly and almost effortlessly, accustomed to working in a team with one another, but despite their speed it was still past curfew by the time they finished. Marco and Bertholdt both opted for a shower while Armin refused, sneaking into the barracks as quietly as he could so not to wake anyone. However, he barely managed to silence his scream when he made to lie down in his bed and found a body to be in his way.

Green eyes stared up at him expectantly and Armin clutched a hand over his heart, his breathing erratic. “My gods Eren, what the heck are you doing?” Armin whisper-yelled the words at his friend when he recovered enough to glare at Eren, unconsciously stationing his hands on his hips. “I was waiting for you to get back. C’mon.” The brunette grunted in reply, scooting over and holding the blankets up for Armin to get in under them. Armin’s mouth gaped as he stared, exasperated at the gesture, before shaking his head and pulling off his shirt and britches. He slid into the bed next to him, but not without a well placed elbow to Eren’s stomach that had him grunting quietly. “Eren care to explain why you’re in my bed?” Armin asked once Eren had draped the blankets over their heads.

Even in the dark, Armin could make out the childish jut of Eren’s lip as he pouted and wrapped his arms around the blonde, drawing him in closer. “Come on Armin, we used to sleep together all the time when we were kids.” “Yes, but we haven’t slept together in the past five years, Eren. What’s going on with you lately?” Armin pressed one of his fingers against Eren’s bare chest, narrowing his eyes at the brunette. “Nothing’s going on, I just felt like sleeping with you again.” Eren muttered, taking Armin’s finger and lacing their hands together with it. “I don’t see why it’s such a problem. If you want I can go back to my bed.” But despite the words, Eren made no attempt to get up or move from the bed and Armin sighed. “No, of course I don’t want you to go back to your bed, I don’t mind you sleeping here.” It was more comfortable sleeping with another person anyway, but Armin wasn’t about to say that. Giving Eren’s hand a little squeeze for confidence, he continued.

“What I do have a problem with is you starting fights with Jean in the middle of the mess hall for no reason. Marco and Bertl were telling me that you’ve had a short temper ever since I showed my dynamic. Are you _mad_ that I’m an omega? You agreed that nothing would change now but you’re acting like…well, like an ass. You were glaring at the corporal and you _snarled_ at Ymir. I don’t know what’s wrong with you.” Eren looked speechless, having shaken his head as soon as Armin questioned his feelings about him being an omega, but other than that, he hadn’t made a move. Several times, Eren looked like he was going to speak, to explain himself, but he always fell short. However, before Armin could speak again, the hand around his waist tightened and the one laced with his own gave a short squeeze and then Eren was chastely kissing Armin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to "this isn't how this chapter was supposed to end" starring me, the trash of the universe. I don't know why I did this. I don't know where I'm going with this. I just have no self control. I was writing it and then was like "THEY SHOULD CUDDLE CAUSE I SAID THEY WOULD BUT NAH HAHA NOW THEY SMOOCHIN". I suck and I apologize.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First: I'm very sorry for how long it has taken me to update this. It's a week before finals and I'm a bit panicky about trying to keep my grades up and I just got hired at a new job so I've been super hella busy with those two things. BUT THE NEW CHAPTER IS OUT YAY. I stayed up all night trying to finish it. I've gotten a bit of writers block on this just because I know where I want it to go I'm just struggling with getting it there in a way that makes sense but hey, I'm trying. Assssssss always, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave my feedback if you have the time, I can't stress enough how much I appreciate and love getting asks, comments, prompts, headcanons likes, kudos, etc. Anything at all. They're so welcome and always noticed and I'm always grateful for it. I also don't proofread my chapters so if you see an error somewhere, please feel free to let me know! With that, I'm always contactable on tumblr for anything, I hope you enjoy and have a beautiful day!~ ^^

Armin didn’t move, frozen face to face with his best friend clinging to him as if his life depended on it. The past few days had been completely overwhelming for the blonde. Finding out he was an omega, knowing he did what he did with his captain of all people, being sexually stressed for days with almost no relief and now Eren’s behavior. Without bothering to hold it back, Armin let out a quiet sob against Eren’s lips, moving his hands between them to cover his face. “No, gods, _fuck!_ Please don’t cry Armin, please, I’m so sorry I wasn’t thinking.” Eren stumbled over his words, curling his now empty fingers around Armin’s hands, trying to coax them away from his face. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please don’t cry. I hate it when you cry.” Though his words were hushed, they were laced with emotion, pecking Armin’s face wherever his hands couldn’t cover.

“Not your fault.” Armin hiccupped, shaking his head while he let Eren pull them from his face and cradle him closely. “I’m just tired as all. It’s…Eren, I’m an omega.” The sobs were back, but full force and without realizing he was doing it, Armin pressed himself into Eren’s figure, burying his nose in the brunette’s neck. In the back of his mind he knew it was the dynamic, that he was seeking comfort in Eren’s dominant pheromones. His hands were clenching the sheets beneath them as he nuzzled against the alpha’s scent gland, coaxing more of that sharp, clear smell he was so familiar with. “Yeah, you are. You’re also fucking incredible, Arm. No one’s as smart as you or as kind as you or as cared for as you. Fuck, you don’t even know how amazing you are. You can’t even see how much everyone adores you and you don’t know how _mad_ it makes me to know that you don’t love yourself as much as I love you.”

He was growling now and Armin’s stomach lurched at the realization he was upsetting an alpha, despite it being indirectly so. A whine sounded from far in the back of the blonde’s throat and he blinked up at Eren, wrapping his arms tightly around his friend. “Will you do it again?” Eren stared down at him, a frown tugging down the corners of his lips when he furrowed his brows. “I don’t…Armin, I wasn’t thinking earlier. I shouldn’t have kissed you in the first place.” The alpha said when he realized exactly what Armin was referring to. “ _Please._ It felt good and…and safe and I’m _scared.”_ Armin croaked, resting his forehead against Eren’s shoulder. He heard the brunette let out a shuddering breath and then there was a hand under his chin, tugging his head up so he was forced to face Eren.

Armin practically went limp when Eren finally kissed him again, just as innocently and chastely as before. There was nothing sexual behind it, no implication to anything more than finding comfort in his oldest friend in a nonconventional way. But it _worked._ All the tension and fear melted away under the alpha’s touch and Armin sighed when Eren’s kisses once again moved across his face, landing on his cheeks and nose and forehead. Hands combed through the back of his hair until they reached his neck and Eren rubbed his thumb gently over the scent gland there, making the small blonde coo beneath him. “You’re perfect. You’ve always been so perfect. You’ll see, we’re gonna make you fucking see yourself, Armin. Omega or not, I don’t care, you’re still my best friend and if anyone tries to hurt you I’ll take care of ‘em.”

Armin was certain Eren was rambling for his own sake now, murmuring against the omega’s forehead in a soft voice. “I’m sorry.” Armin breathed, his voice barely a whisper. Eren still caught it. “No. You haven’t done anything wrong, you shouldn’t be saying sorry to anyone for anything. I’m sorry for being so…aggressive lately. I’ll try to tone it down. I just – I can’t stand to see people…I don’t know.” Armin’s mind was fogged, manipulated into relaxation through Eren’s deft touches, but he was still coherent enough to tug lightly on the back of Eren’s hair and frown. “Possessive. You’ve been acting possessive of me, Eren. Any time someone gets near me you’re growling them away. I thought you might go for Marco or Bertholdt and you know they wouldn’t do anything to me, that they’re my closest friends aside from you and Mikasa.”

Biting his lip, Armin squirmed a bit before steeling himself and sitting up on his knees to look down at the alpha. “You can’t do that, Eren. You can’t drive people away from me just because I’m an omega or…for whatever reason. And the captain…Eren he _helped_ me.” Eren interjected then. “ _I_ could have helped you, Armin!” Despite his face being even redder than it had been when he was forcing himself to speak previously, his voice was steady when he hushed the brunette and continued. “Eren he…Eren you realize that to help me he had to have sex with me, right?” His face was positively burning now. “I don’t know what it’s like for you but that heat was like hell. Everything hurt so badly and I couldn’t even think. I forgot my own name at one point. It was miserable, Eren. And Captain Levi, he helped me and he never did anything I wasn’t comfortable with…well, I think at that point I would have been comfortable with anything. But he was better to me than most of the other recruits are and you were horrible to him.”

Eren had jutted his lower lip out in defiance while Armin spoke and let out a quiet huff when the blonde looked down at him with expectant eyes, still flushed with embarrassment but holding his ground on the issue. “I know, I _know._ I’ll try to be nice, mother.” He jeered back, resting one of his hands on Armin’s hip and folding the other under his pillow. “You’re my best friend. I just don’t want to see anyone hurting you or taking advantage of you. And it makes me angry seeing other people look at you like that or knowing someone’s touched you like that.” He muttered, squeezing Armin’s waist lightly while he rubbed his nose against his torso. “I’ll be better. Or I’ll try to.” Armin smiled down at the brunette who, despite his sulking, seemed genuine with his words. “Thank you. I’m really tired though. Can we go to sleep now?”

Gaining a grunt in response, the duo shifted themselves until they were comfortable. Eren was propped up slightly on the pillows, one hand still on Armin’s waist and the other tangled in his surprisingly soft hair. Armin had curled up so he was pressed tightly against Eren and his head was resting on the larger teen’s chest. All it took was a murmured ‘goodnight’ from each of them and the two were out, lulled to sleep by the other’s breathing.

 Armin slept like a rock, but Eren didn’t. He had woken up when everyone else did and glared off anyone who dared try to wake the peaceful blonde. His promise to Armin was kept to an extent, but he still warned off anyone who attempted to get too close to his friend. He just left out the snarling. That is, until Bertholdt in all his timid, lanky glory inched his way closer. Eren could feel Reiner’s eyes on him, an unspoken threat behind the look. Snap at Bertholdt and Eren would surely have to face Reiner’s wrath…and probably Annie’s as well. “Um, Eren? Armin and I were assigned to the stables again this morning so I kind of need him to wake up…and by extent I need you to let go of him and not, uh, attack me.”

“Did you mate him or something?” Eren caught the mumbling from Jean before he got the chance to reply to Bertholdt and turned his scowl towards his rival, tightening the grip he had on Armin. “He’s my friend, Kristen. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?” Jean scowled at the name and balled his hands into fists, but didn’t make a move. “Marco’s my friend.” Eren rolled his eyes at that. “Marco doesn’t count.” He retorted, earning an eye roll in return from Jean. “Then Armin doesn’t count for you.” “Why don’t I count?” The barely there mumble from Armin had both teens stopping their bickering and looking down at him. Jean muttered something else under his breath, then shook his head and moved away. “Nothing, Arm. You can go back to sleep if you want.”

“ _No_ you can’t. Bertl’s waiting for you, you’re on stable duty for the morning and both of you are already late.” Reiner interjected, grinning at Eren when he scowled at the muscular blonde. Armin, even in a sleep induced haze, caught the smile Bertholdt sent in Reiner’s direction and couldn’t help but giggle quietly, stretching and wiggling back against Eren. “Thanks Reiner, I’ll be ready in a few minutes Bertl. Sorry for whatever Eren did, too.” His bashful friend nodded in response and headed off while Armin flipped around in Eren’s grasp so he was facing the brunette, his chin on Eren’s chest. “They’re cute. I thought you said you would behave last night.” The blonde accused, his eyelashes fluttering when Eren moved his hands through his hair. “I didn’t growl at anyone.” Eren defended, tugging lightly at the ends of Armin’s soft hair. “Baby steps, huh?” Armin giggled, ducking his head down so his face was buried in Eren’s chest. “Thank you for last night. But I’ve gotta get up now. So let go of me.” He punctuated the last work with a harsh nip to Eren’s collar bone before he really registered what he was doing.

   Eren went rigid, but Armin was already off the bed and digging around for his clothing among the cumulative mess of the teenage recruits. “C’mon, Eren, time to get up.” He chirped, grabbing the brunette’s leg and yanking him towards the end of the bed, his shirt half buttoned and hanging off one shoulder. Ignoring Eren’s grumbles and protests, Armin threw his equipment on as quickly as possible, having grown too bored with his days in the dungeon. He linked arms with Bertholdt on their way out giggling and bumping against the tall man while they walked, coaxing warm smiles and laughs from him on their way.

There were already a few people milling around the stables and Bertholdt and Armin got to work immediately, as diligent as always. Armin realized quickly that there was still a constant ache deep in his bones. However, he did miss the way some of the men looked at him for a bit too long with furrowed brows, scooting closer only to be blocked by his tall friend who, much to the men’s surprise glowered at them until they backed off. And Armin was entirely oblivious to the beta’s protective actions for him, only made aware of it when he ran off to collect more bales of hay and turned around to see all eyes on him.

Four soldiers stood around the barn room and significantly slowed their tasks, casting blatantly confused looks at the blonde, who smiled and nodded meekly back in response. He wasn’t truly nervous until one of them came up behind him, patting his shoulder harshly with a hand. “Arlert, right? You’re that Eren kid’s friend. Are you wearing perfume?” With wide eyes, the omega looked up at the man and blinked several times before it came to him. He had been warned that, despite them being nowhere as prominent as they were when he was in heat; his pheromones still drew attention from others. They wouldn’t know what it meant, or so he hoped, but they would know something was off. Though he had been told that he didn’t have to keep his dynamic a secret, the situation threw him off more than he would have liked to admit. The four men were all betas, that he could tell, but two of them were eyeing him up in a way that made his skin crawl.

“Um, I, n-no. I’m not. Sorry?” He gave the older soldier closest to him a forced smile, but refused to turn his back again until the man had nodded and stepped away from him. Even then, he watched the other soldiers with guarded eyes until one by one they went back to their tasks. However, he could still feel it; eyes glued to the back of his neck as he loaded up the last bale into his cart and prepared to get back to Bertholdt as quickly as possible. “Hey, why do you smell weird then?” The words had Armin pausing in the doorway, then craning his head back to look at the youngest of soldiers who spoke up. He looked like a new recruit and Armin had no recollection of seeing him before. His nose was in the air when he approached the blonde, sniffing loudly around them. Armin only shrugged again and made a move to leave, but found himself pulled back with a harsh pull to his arm.

“Watch it, greenie. Don’t harass the kid; he’s been here longer than you have.” There was a surprising amount of coldness in the tone of the older soldier’s voice, but the man who had taken hold of the omega only scoffed and forced Armin to face him. Agonizingly slowly, Armin was backed up against a wall while the man tried to get closer to him, leaning down to smell audibly at his neck.

He would swear later that it was pure instinct, but Armin knew his reaction was more than that. Every ounce of pent up confusion and frustration and anger was taken out in one solid knee to the recruit’s stomach. Already he was sick of the way people were treating him, staring all the time and _sniffing_ at him like he was some sort of fucked up humanoid flower. People treated him like he was weak and couldn’t take care of himself and now Eren was back to being over protective, people were making comments behind his back again and to top it all off his captain had fucked him. There was no sympathy when he watched the soldier keel over with a loud groan, clutching at his stomach while he coughed harshly and gasped for breath.

The first thing he heard was a loud, barking laugh from the older soldier as the other two scrambled to help their friend. “I told you not to harass the kid. Get the fuck back to work.” And for some reason, Armin glowed with pride when the soldier inclined his head at the blonde. Maybe it was the affirmation he needed. Because despite the reassurance from Eren and Marco and Bertholdt that nothing changed, something still felt different. Almost beaming, Armin finished his work with Bertholdt, brushing off any questioning gazes he got from the tall man.

“You’re happy.” It wasn’t a question and Armin grinned up at his friend as they made their way to the mess halls, both covered in their fair share of sweat and grime. “Am I not allowed to be? You’re happy too. I saw you smiling like that at Reiner this morning, y’know all _super happy_ Bertl…y.” His tall friend blushed at that, tan skin turning several shades darker. “Alpha and his beta, sitting in a tree, _B-A-N-G-I-N-G.”_ Marco chimed in, running up from behind and wrapping an arm around Bertholdt’s waist. Both he and Armin laughed while Bertholdt whined and covered his face with his hands, grumbling about how the two of them were rude.

“Armin!” Having expected the call, Armin was already half way to Eren’s table when the brunette yelled for him to go over. Of course, there was a spot between Mikasa and him which Armin easily settled down in. For the first time that day, all eyes weren’t on him, much to his thankful surprise. Under the table, Mikasa took his hand and gave it a small squeeze, which had him laughing under his breath and returning the gesture. Of course she would have picked up on how uncomfortable he was the day before. “What’d you tell them, ‘Kasa? Our table hasn’t been this well behaved in a while.” He whispered once everyone had busied themselves with their food, craning his head to the side. She only smiled back at him, eyes twinkling in a way that got her point across. _You don’t want to know._

“Oh, Armin, the Commander wanted me to tell you to meet him in his office whenever you’re done eating. He said Eren can come if he’s going to throw a fit about it.” Jean spoke up, spinning his food around on his plate. “He didn’t say that about me you lit-.” Eren hissed out the words until the back of Armin’s hand came into contact with his stomach. “Thank you Jean.” The blonde chirped, nodding at his comrade much to Eren’s annoyance. “Don’t say anything or you can’t come.” Armin cut him off when he noted Eren’s expression change into his typical rant face. It worked and Eren snapped his jaw shut, huffing quietly as he settled back in his chair. “Actually, we can eat on the way there. Thanks guys.” Armin said when the table fell silent again, everyone exchanging looks. He grabbed Eren’s arm and pulled him from his seat and out of the mess hall.

“Eren. You’re still doing it.” Armin accused while they walked, pleased with how even his voice was. Some muttered response came from the alpha behind him and Armin groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “You’re worse than normal Eren, why are you acti-” “Because I’m coming up on my heat and it’s really hard to be around you now, Arm.” The words came as a snapped reply before the blonde finished lecturing. Armin stopped, causing Eren to smack into his back with a quiet groan before he grabbed the blonde’s shoulders and spun him around. “That came out wrong. I just meant you smell really good and when people get near you I kinda just automatically assume they’re going to do something bad.”

But Armin wasn’t upset like Eren assumed he would be. Instead, he laughed and wrapped his arms around the alpha’s neck and hugged him tightly, then took several large steps away. “Thank the gods; I thought something was actually wrong, you should have told me earlier. Are you taking suppressants?” He asked, continuing on the path to the Commander’s office while Eren openly gaped at his behavior, having to shake his head several times before he followed after the blonde. “Uh, no. They make me more aggressive than usual, remember? Armin why are you so sunshine and rainbows today?” Pausing outside of Erwin’s door, Armin spun on his heel to beam up at Eren. “I thought things changed or that they were going to change but…I don’t think I’ve been happier to be wrong before.”

“You are the cutest dork I have ever met.” Eren deadpanned, moving forward to ruffle Armin’s hair and press a kiss to his forehead. “Are you two going to stop being disgusting and lovey dovey and get in here any time soon.” With that Eren’s scowl was back full force and focused entirely on their captain who was positioned behind Armin in the doorframe. Armin looked between the two several times before sighing and slipping under Levi’s arm and into the room, calling out as he went. “Hanji, they’re doing the weird hate glaring thing again probably because Eren’s nearing his heat and still can’t take suppressants.” He finished, dropping down in the chair he had long since called his own. The scientist immediately perked up at his words, their lips curling into a grin. “We’re working on a few new types, but we have to make sure they’re fully tested before we can start distributing them, but if he wants to try…”

“ _No!_ No more of your untested things, you know what happened last time.” Eren spoke up, trying to nab the spot next to Armin, only to be blocked by Levi settling down next to him. “You haven’t gained chair rights in here, kid, and you probably never will. You can stand.” Levi growled, tapping his fingers against the arm of his chair. Armin sent a pleading look towards Erwin, who had looked too amused by Levi and Eren’s constant competing for dominance. Clearing his throat, Erwin sat back in his chair and folded his arms in front of him. “We need to discuss whether or not tests are going to be run to find out more about omegas. And by we I mean Armin, Hanji and I. Levi, Eren, you’re both guests here. Try to behave yourselves.”   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed and can forgive the pretty abrupt ending! (Again feedback is very appreciated. Very, very appreciated. I'll love you forever).


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, for once I don't have any notes other than the usual. Let's do this. Feedback is super important to me and so, so very appreciated I can't even begin to explain how much it affects my writing. Kudos, asks, likes, comments, headcannons, suggestions, etc are all super welcome and I will probably love you forever if you leave any of the above for me. Please enjoy the new chapter and have a beautiful day~ ^^

Armin awoke to a large hand cupping his cheek and his name being murmured quietly in a deep voice that had him shifting father into the touch. “Armin, it’s late and I’m sure your own bed is more comfortable than my desk.” The voice said and Armin slowly opened his eyes to see Erwin staring down at him, eyes full of mirth and a slight smile on his face. Letting out a yawn, the smaller of the blondes lifted his head, immediately missing the warmth the hand had to offer, and rubbed at his eyes with the backs of his hands. He still had the sense to look embarrassed when he nodded and stood, his back and neck already stiff from lying in such an awkward position. At some point during the night Eren and Levi had been ordered to leave the room when Eren almost lunged at the captain over a snide comment made under his breath. They were each put in the heat rooms on opposite sides of the training yards in order for the discussion to find its end.

Hanji ended up taking several blood samples from Armin in order to run tests, as well as tissue and saliva samples, but much to their disappointment, Armin refused to offer up a semen sample when they asked. Overall the meeting had gone well and when Hanji excused themselves, Erwin and Armin had spend longer planning for their next expedition that had been scheduled for the day after the next until Levi and Eren’s heats came early. Hours must have gone by before they decided it was best to proceed as planned with Levi’s squad commanding the rest until the captain could join them. If nothing else, they would hopefully be able to clear away some of the titans in the town just outside of the walls they were aiming for.

It wasn’t the first time Armin fell asleep at the commander’s desk while reviewing strategies and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last, so there were no awkward goodbyes or stammered apologies from the omega as there had been the first few times. “Tomorrow I want you overseeing everyone’s equipment maintenance before you leave. The last thing we need is to lose new recruits because they underestimated the importance of caring for their gear. You’ll be riding up with Levi’s squad as we discussed and when you get to the town, the most important thing is to capture and secure the largest building you can find. It should hopefully only be a day or two before Levi and Eren leave to catch up with the group and from then you’ll work on finding the archives we heard about.” Erwin reviewed while Armin nodded along diligently, making a to do list in his head.

 He was startled, however, when the commander’s hand reached out to brush across his cheek again. There was a look in Erwin’s eyes that Armin had never seen before. It was unreadable and intense and made his blood boil beneath his skin. Nodding slightly, Armin reached up and gave the hand a squeeze, smiling up at his commanding officer. It felt like the right thing to do and his instincts were confirmed when the large man smiled back and dropped his hand. “Be careful out there. If there’s anything you don’t think you can handle, you run. I can’t afford to lose your mind now.” Erwin said. Armin knew better than to deny the man’s words by now and simply smiled gratefully, nodded and left the room.

The next morning, everything was chaos as it frequently got before an expedition. Armin woke up stiff and uncomfortable from the night before and he was still getting strange looks from every other person he passed by. Additionally, most of the new recruits seemed less than pleased to have to get his approval on their gear and by half passed midday, only a third had managed to clean their gear well enough for him to dismiss them. Rumors must have been spreading more quickly than Hanji had expected, Armin realized, as most of the recruits muttered something along the lines of _‘damn omega’_ under their breath when Armin sent them back to try again.

Sighing, the small blonde fingered a filthy strap on one of the sets of gear before him. “I told you, trying to clean this isn’t going to work, you need to get your straps replaced so they can be salvaged.” He said, pinching the bridge of his noise between his fingers when the recruit in front of him snorted defiantly. “You shouldn’t be able to tell me anything, you’re an _omega,_ right? I read about them when I was a kid. You’re supposed to submit to us, so maybe if it’s not good enough _you_ should just clean the gear.” The girl sneered, leaning across the table to get in Armin’s face. With dull eyes, he looked up at her and had his reply on the tip of his tongue when a loud slamming of equipment on the table startled both of them. Ymir had leaned next to the girl, one hand on her own gear and tugged the new recruit’s hair to the side.

“Maybe you should watch your fucking mouth, Strawberry Shortcake, before I decide to shut it for you, huh?” The freckled woman hissed, watching with glee as the girl’s eyes went wide, but her words remained caught in her throat. “Oh look how much better that is, now go do what the genius says, I’m already sick of looking at you.” Armin watched the girl balk away at Ymir’s words, gathering her frail equipment quickly before she darted away. “Honestly, I could easily have handled her. If you all keep intervening whenever someone says something to me people are going to get it into their heads that I can’t protect myself.” Armin chided as he began to look over Ymir’s gear. The woman simply snorted and rolled her eyes, then shrugged her shoulders. “Yeah, we know you can take care of yourself, but she was annoying me and I wanted to shut her up. And, uh, I wanted to apologize for the other day.” The second sentence was almost whispered while Ymir looked pointedly at her feet as she said it.

Laughing to himself, Armin grinned up at her. “ _Right._ I’m sure you did. Krista told you to apologize or she wouldn’t put out anymore, didn’t she?” The blonde asked skeptically, his laughter rising in volume at how grumpy Ymir looked at his words. “She didn’t _tell_ me to, she just…strongly implied that I should do so and I already planned to in the first place.” The woman defended, shoving her hands into her pockets while she shifted impatiently where she stood. “You don’t apologize unless Krista’s involved, Ymir. Everyone knows that by now. But its okay, I don’t expect you to and you don’t have to, really. It was a bit awkward to have someone sniffing at me, but Eren overreacted and for that, I apologize. Okay, you’re good to go.” Armin finished, presenting her gear out to her. Ymir stared at him for a long moment before taking her gear and walking off, only to call out behind her “I swear if you were a girl, Arlert, I’d bone you so fast.” Despite his face flushing bright red, Armin laughed and ducked his head, running a hand through his hair as he marveled at how much audacity one person could have.

By the end of the day Armin was exhausted and found himself back in the commander’s office. He hadn’t wanted to put up with listening to Connie and Sasha trying to instigate a food fight or watch Krista and Ymir try to suck face discreetly and Mikasa had still been busy preparing to leave in the morning. So, Armin had meekly knocked on Erwin’s door with two trays of food to find him still signing away at paperwork. They ate in comfortable silence, a chess board between them where pieces were moved at leisure when one had the time to glance down for long enough to formulate a proper move against the other. It vaguely occurred to Armin that the messengers that frequented the office had stopped hesitating to speak when he was there and how he had practically claimed a section of the room as his sanctuary. But Erwin didn’t seem to mind; quite the contrary. He came to life when Armin was around, thrilled in his own way to have another mind to bounce ideas off of.

Again, the blonde found himself dozing off in the room, this time with his head resting against the arm of his chair, but he was shaken from his attempt at rest before he could completely knock out. “As little as I mind you wanting to sleep in here, Armin, I think it would be best if you tried to actually sleep in a bed tonight.” Erwin said, gentle eyes continuing to lull the smaller or the two. Almost to his own surprise, Armin shook his head and muttered something undecipherable while he pulled his legs up on the cushioned chair, curling tighter into himself. Above him the commander chuckled, a deep rumbling noise that had Armin flushing and letting out a small puff of air, his fingers tightening their grip on his pants. “Armin Arlert I’m not afraid to carry you off for the entire survey corps to see.” Erwin threatened lightly, brushing the hair off of Armin’s forehead.

But Armin only grinned and held his arms out, silently accepting the challenge with a boldness that he was sure he would regret when he thought on it later. Erwin’s eyebrows raised and he went as far as to bark out a laugh, then in one smooth motion he scooped Armin up into his arms, earning a quiet squeak from the blonde who hadn’t fully expected the commander to go through with it. Armin marveled at how things changed while Erwin legitimately carried him down the hallways and outside towards the barracks. A few weeks ago he would have found little more embarrassing than being carried like a bride by the commander of the survey corps, yet in the past few weeks he found himself encircled in the large man’s arms more than one. To make matters better or worse, he couldn’t deny the comfort he found in the action. Of course, he understood it was almost entirely due to his new instincts. Erwin was an exceptionally strong and experienced alpha; there was no way someone like that _wouldn’t_ appeal to a newly displayed omega.

Aside from that, he knew he connected with Erwin on an intellectual level before his display and the commander hadn’t treated him any differently, even when he was guiding Armin after his heat. However, part of being an experienced alpha meant Erwin knew how to keep his pheromones to a minimum and at that moment it was absolutely _infuriating_ to the small blonde who had buried his nose into the commander’s neck and was inhaling deeply without even realizing it, trying to distinguish his scent from the other smells in the air. To his credit, Erwin didn’t acknowledge Armin’s actions and simply continued to their destination without even casting a strange look at the younger boy and for that, Armin was indefinitely grateful.

Erwin dropped him off at the door to the barracks and Armin almost pouted when he had to release the alpha. Quick goodbyes were exchanged and the blonde snuck into his bed as quietly as possible, trying to avoid waking any of the others lest they question or tease him about where he had been.

Plopping down on his bed with a sigh, Armin nuzzled his nose into the blankets, deeply inhaling the crisp pine scent that remained from Eren two nights before. It was odd, how some scents appealed to Armin more than others still, despite his dynamic and despite that of others. Most of the other cadets smelled like nothing special or downright repulsive, but Eren’s was familiar and had Armin relaxing into a puddle almost instantly. He clung to the blankets throughout the night, missing the constant closeness he shared with his friend, though he refused to let his thoughts remain for too long on _just_ how close they had gotten. Because Eren would always be the hot headed, wild boy that ran to Armin’s defense, even when he himself stood no chance against whomever it was. Never before had Eren leaving due to his heat effected Armin, let alone in a negative way, but as he spent the night curled around his blankets, he felt himself longing for some sort of contact from any of the three alphas he was newly infatuated with.

‘Perhaps saying to himself that he was _newly_ infatuated with them was a misstatement’, Armin thought as he rode along behind Levi’s squad the next morning. He had been close with Eren for almost as long as he could remember and Eren was the one who pointed out Levi the first time he saw the captain. Armin would never admit it, but originally he admired Levi solely because he was so small, almost as small as Armin was present day, yet he was known as humanities strongest soldier. No one felt like his stature was enough to make him less, or if they had the man quickly proved them wrong. Of course, Levi was more terrifying in person than Armin had expected him to be, but the captain had soft spots. He _had_ to. There was no reason for him to care for Armin after his head subsided if he didn’t and, as much as he wanted to forget everything that happened during those days, Armin had never been able to imagine the captain so gentle or careful with someone before he experienced it firsthand.

Armin’s day was spent going over the three alphas in his mind while they rode in formation. Luckily, there was little in the way of disturbances and whenever a titan neared them, they were taken out exactly as he and Erwin planned for them to be. The sun had just begun to set by the time they made it to what used to be the town. More than anything, the place was a site of ruins. Barely any buildings still stood and none of them were large enough to house everyone along with the horses for the nights ahead. Armin’s eyebrows were furrowed when Petra dropped back in the formation to ride next to him and the blonde already anticipated what she was going to ask. “I know. We’re going to have to split the group. The two buildings towards the middle of the town look like they would work well. They’re close enough to keep us together and aren’t completely falling apart, though we hoped there would be some closer to the outskirts of the town.” He spoke before Petra had a chance and the woman nodded, giving him a bright smile and thumbs up.

“We trust your judgment. Besides, there aren’t as many titans to clear as we thought, right? All we have to do is hold out for a few days while we wait for the captain.” She reassured him, clasping her hand down on his shoulder before she rode forward to give out their orders. Their best bet was to break into three groups, he knew, with one going down the middle and the other two on the sides until they reached the buildings. As Armin expected, a flare from up front notified the rest of the group to break and the soldiers complied immediately, riding into the town with a fearlessness Armin still wished he possessed. He rode alongside the middle group, watching in silent awe as people broke away from their horses to fly through the air, directly towards their enemies.

One by one, the titans fell, but Armin still cringed with every life he saw caught in their grasps and he knew the screams would haunt him that night. Despite their losses, the three groups made it to the buildings with relative ease and crowded around the fronts, soldiers cheering and hugging their companions after they dismounted. Armin did the same, accepting high fives from Connie and Sasha who he ended up grouped with along the way. Petra and Erd stood outside of each building, gesturing for people to make their way inside where it was safer when a scream pierced the air and chilled Armin to the bone. _“Abnormal!”_

Before he had time to even swing his head, the tiny omega was soaring through the air, the wind knocked out of him when something collided directly with his back. His vision went white and all Armin could hear was static from wherever he lay. The screams came first, sounding too far away, too frantic. Then came the haze of color, browns and reds until he realized that he was buried face down in the ground and what must have been his own blood from the impact. However, there was no pain, no agony, he wasn’t screaming or crying like he thought he would be in such a situation. It was something else entirely, when he turned to look up and was met with the distorted face of a titan that grinned back at him. _Again._ It was happening again, but this time Eren wasn’t there to save him. All of his training was for nothing, all of the extra hours he practiced alone to not be a burden would be for nothing. He was going to be devoured by the titan and that would be the end of him, he’d be nothing but another life lost to the fight for humanity.

Then, Armin did scream, a high pitched wail that startled even himself when it left his lips. Next came the agony when he tried to stand, resonating from his back out through the rest of his limbs. And the titan did nothing but watch him as he wormed away until the hand was reaching out for him again, prepared to curl around its lunch. So Armin ran, clamping his hand over his own mouth to both stop his scream and prevent him from throwing up. He didn’t think he had ever moved so quickly before as he scrambled away, over ruins and under fallen beams, but the titan persisted, moving just quickly enough to keep up like it was _toying_ with him. He could hear hooves pounding against dirt, a familiar buzzing through the air and the cries of the soldiers who pursued them, but Armin didn’t stop, didn’t slow until he shrieked again when the ground gave way beneath him.

Everything hurt and Armin wheezed for breath where he lay against rocks and rubble and he coughed when most of what he breathed in was dirt from the fall. He couldn’t see anything and had to touch his own eyes to ensure they were open, but even then he didn’t know if it was due to damage from the titan or the fall or if the hole above him had closed in on itself, leaving him completely submerged. He may have lain there for hours or minutes as far as he was aware until a familiar voice broke him out of his stupor and had him squinting up at the ceiling in hopes that somehow he would be able to see her. _Mikasa._ “Armin! Armin are you down there? For fucks sake answer me if you are.” He heard her shout through the dirt and though his throat burned and he was sure he sounded like hell, Armin replied enthusiastically. “Mikasa! I fell. It’s really dark down here and I can’t see, but I’m okay.” He reassured her, and then heard murmurs from above him.

“Armin? We don’t know if we’ll be able to get you out right away without this whole thing caving in on you. Can you see anything?” Petra. Rubbing at his eyes, he cringed at the effort it took and blinked out into the darkness. He must have adjusted slightly to the lack of light and could vaguely make out what exactly he fell into. It went on deeper, he realized as he made his first effort to stand, wobbling to his feet after several attempts. “Not really, but I can tell it goes deeper. Its okay, just wait until morning, I’ll be fine. I’m going to try to follow it, I’m sure I can make a trail with something. Just go rest now.” He called back and, after some convincing, managed to get the squad to leave him alone in the tunnel.

The first step was the hardest; Armin tried to convince himself while he slowly staggered forward and clung to the wall, dropping stones every few feet he went. His legs and back were burning and he felt like he would topple over should a breeze hit him from the wrong angle, but he persisted, taking comfort in the coolness of the dirt against his fingers and occasionally his face when he would rest his head. As he continued forward, his trek became easier and he noticed he was going at a downhill slope then. Additionally, there were wooden posts every few feet, supporting the dirt walls around him.

Dirt eventually turned to stone and despite Armin’s exhaustion, his curiosity won out. He must have been walking for an hour, maybe two, before he finally tripped over something, groaning weakly when it ruthlessly made him knock his chin against the stone ground. Reaching back, he tried to feel about the object that tripped him, running his fingers over the edges and into the nooks until he was gasping and searching his person for a match. As carefully as he could with several fingers accidentally dipped in oil and with no light to guide him, Armin brought the tiny flame he had been hoping to preserve up to what he prayed to any god out there was a wick.

Relief and excitement washed over him like a drug when the flame took up in the lantern, slowly growing until Armin was able to look up and see where he was. Once he did, however, he found himself staring slack jawed in awe as before him was a room with ever wall lined with books and papers that extended past what his lantern allowed him to see. He was on his feet again in an instant, rushing over to look at the first label on one of the boxes. _Alpha Studies VIII._ The next, _Beta Studies X._ On day one, without meaning to, Armin had successfully found the archives they came to look for.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a terrible person and literally trash and haven't updated in a while and I apologize for that. I'm trying, I really am. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the new chapter despite the couple of little time skips in it, I just can't stand writing filler and that's my only alternative. I also hope everyone had a happy holiday time with lots of hugs and love and food and if not...well, I love you, so there. Please leave some feedback if you can, it helps me a lot and I greatly appreciate it. As always, have a beautiful day~ ^^

Armin knew he was dreaming, knew he had to be, but still couldn’t believe his eyes. He wondered if this was how ghosts felt if they were real at all as he found himself staring at his mirror image that was splayed out on a bed in front of him. It was all too vivid from the sweat that rolled down the side of his neck to the way his legs shook, wrapped tightly around another figure’s waist. He watched himself look up as the figure changed; mist shifting and twisting until the commander of the survey corps was looking down at his body. Armin wanted to reach out, though if it would be to stop himself from looking up so lustfully at Erwin or to touch the other man, he wasn’t sure, but he was glued in place, eyes fixed on the scene his own mind created for him.

Erwin moved as gracefully as Armin had seen him on the battle field, his motions practiced and precise while he rolled his hips into Armin’s double. Those stone cold eyes that had seen the deaths of thousands at his command still retained the rare warmth they obtained with Armin, which the blonde had long ago given up on denying. He watched the man’s large hand slide through his hair, watched himself moan and writhe beneath the touch until his duplicate yelped and the mist began to twist again, changing blonde to brown and experience for eagerness until Erwin had become Eren, who occupied himself with pressing kisses to the other Armin’s cheeks and nose and lips. Quiet words were exchanged, apologies for pulling his hair incorrectly, promises that he would learn. Armin watched himself giggle and cup his best friend’s face, reassuring him as he had done so many times while Eren fumbled to find a rhythm among his inexperience and passion. It was only when Eren pressed their lips together that the mist churned again until he was whining on the bed, his bottom lip trapped between Levi’s teeth.

Again and again the mist changed his partner, occasionally throwing in men he had never met before and Armin watched it all. After a while it was almost like a study as he examined how he looked with them, how he reacted to what his imagination was conjuring up, how _they_ reacted to _him._ The swirling images were burned into his inner eye and even as he gasped awake, jolting upright, they danced in the back of his mind, causing the injured blonde to flush darkly when he realized he was sporting a rather prominent case of morning wood.

The lantern was still lit beside him, though the flame had lessened significantly. From his position on the floor, Armin remembered that he had been digging through one of the larger piles of boxes when exhaustion hit him like a rock. There were plenty of files on alphas and betas, but Armin had yet to find one labeled as omega and though there may have been some information on them buried within the reports on the other dynamics, Armin didn’t have time to look through them all himself. Erwin would be thrilled just to know that the alpha and beta files were intact, as that was what the original mission was all about before Armin displayed his, but it left the small blonde completely dissatisfied and still with more unanswered questions than he would have liked.

His groan echoed throughout the archives when Armin attempted to stand, stretching out his too-sore muscles that had only stiffened during the night. Sighing, he slumped back down onto the cold ground and cringed at the uncomfortable way his erection rubbed against the rough material of his pants. The underground building gave him no basis to guess a time off of despite how hard he looked around for some crack in the ceiling or a window. For all he knew it was the middle of the night or several days past when he fell through the ground. Slipping his bottom lip between his teeth, Armin took a deep breath to calm the blush on his cheeks when he shifted again, trying to find a comfortable position against the boxes. It was only after mentally scolding himself over how silly he was being that he hooked his thumbs in the waist band of his pants and shimmied them down his hips.

 With a trembling hand Armin reached down and wrapped his fingers around the base of his erection, giving it a light squeeze while he let out a quiet breath and dropped his head down. ‘ _No one could possibly walk in’_ he reassured himself, sliding his fingers up his length in a slow rhythm. Besides, it wasn’t like he had never touched himself before, despite the innocent persona everyone glued to him due to his more timid nature. Breathing in deeply, Armin almost whined at the lack of pheromones in the cavern, the stuffy air doing nothing to help him. He chewed on his swollen lip and shifted slightly, bringing his thumb up to rub at the sensitive area of nerves just under his head that had him shuddering and stifling a drawn out moan. Moving his free hand, Armin balanced himself up on his knees and reached behind him, running one of his fingers in between his ass cheeks.

“ _Oh!”_ The exclamation came when he pressed the tip of his index finger into himself only to find his insides slick, almost exactly as he had been when he was in heat, just less in quantity. Bringing his finger closer to his face, he rubbed two together, trying to get a better look at the substance while his hand sped its pace, twisting and dragging along his cock exactly how he liked it. “Wow.” He breathed to himself before his fingers were back where he wanted them. This time carefully worked two digits into his ass. His moans fell freely from his lips and mixed with quiet hisses as he curled his fingers just slightly, shuddering at the burn the action caused.

Wet noises echoed through the archives while Armin worked himself closer to orgasm, precum having slicked his cock enough to have his hand moving quickly and his fingers matching the pace. The muscles in his legs had since given out on him, forcing the blonde to hunch over and rest his cheek against the ground.

“Armin!” From where his eyes had closed tightly they shot open and the omega jerked forward at the sound of his name being shouted out through the archives. Unfortunately for him, his sudden movements drove both of his fingers against his prostate and had him gripping himself tightly enough to send him over the edge and Armin just barely managed to bite down on his arm to muffle his cries as he came undone. “Arm! Armin are you down here?” The familiar voice had Armin cursing in his head and scrambling to pull his pants up around his hips again. Looking down at his dirtied hand, he cursed again and looked around desperately for something to clean it with before shaking his head and settling for wiping it low on the leg of his pants just as the sound of footsteps reached his ears.

“Y-Yeah! I’m right over here.” Armin called out, scrambling to his feet with a fair amount of effort. Eren came into view first, followed almost immediately by Mikasa and Levi while several over recruits stopped behind them. “Oh my gods, I was so worried!” Eren cried, quickly pulling Armin into a tight hug that helped to settle his nerves as he was suddenly encased in the alpha’s pheromones. Smiling weakly, Armin nodded and pat Eren’s back, only realizing how dry his throat was when he tried to speak normally for the first time. “It’s good to see you. But…how many days have I been down here? I thought you were both still back at the headquarters.” Armin said, peeking out around Eren’s body to glance at Levi. It was only when he took in his captains expression of surprise and almost mirth that Armin was reminded of how he must have looked: red faced, messy hair, sweaty and gods only knew what kind of pheromones he had been letting out. Though Eren seemed none the wiser, Levi obviously noticed.

“They were. You’ve been down here for a few days, Armin. We called out for you, but we didn’t know this went so far down. Eren and the captain arrived just a few minutes ago when we were able to clear away the area you fell.” Mikasa spoke up from next to Levi, and then she nudged Eren hard in the ribs. “He’s been down here without food or water for days, Eren. Let him go so we can get him treated. How’re you feeling?” She asked, working to pry her adoptive brother away from Armin. The omega simply smiled again in response and shrugged. “I’ll survive. At least we found the archives early on. Have you been clearing out the town?” The rasp in his voice was clear and Levi clucked his tongue, stepping forward. “They’ll tell you all about it later. But for now we need to get you to a medic…though it seems you weren’t too tired to enjoy your alone time down here.” The last part of the captain’s sentence was said quietly so no one other than Armin could hear, but the blonde turned scarlet all the same and ducked his head in shame.

“One of you, take him to a medic up above, I don’t think he’d be able to walk on his own.” Levi directed. A soldier made a move to approach Armin, only to be blocked when Eren stepped in his way. “I can take him.” The shifter said, his eyes boring down into Levi’s. “No, you can’t. We need to stay down here and start on collecting and sorting the files. Stop being stubborn, Eren. Armin needs to rest.” Mikasa intervened again, grabbing the back of Eren’s shirt and pulling him away from the omega. Sending Eren a small nod to assure him that he was okay, Armin allowed himself to be lifted up and returned to the surface by the younger soldier. The medic barely had time to get some broth down Armin’s throat before the blonde was asleep like a rock again, not having the energy to do anything other than rest.

He awoke the next day and immediately jumped into the swing of things, sorting through the boxes and boxes of files in the archives, discarding everything they already knew and keeping anything they didn’t. It was tedious work, but it had to be done by someone while others worked on clearing the area of titans and keeping the rest of them safe. When on their third day of looking they finally found a box simply labeled as “Omega” on the very back of a shelf in a dark corner, Armin was elated. There wasn’t much in there and Levi made him wait to look through it until they got back to the headquarters, but it was _something._ A step in the right direction to figuring out exactly what he was and how he came to be after all other omegas had been taken out. They moved more vigorously then, moving through boxes like it was their life’s goal to do so until after a week, the entire archives had been sorted and looked through. Out of everything they had found, only a wagon full of boxes were deemed important, the hole was sealed tight, and the group was headed back home with only twenty lives lost. In every way Armin could think of, the mission had been a success.

Dismounting from his horse back at the headquarters, Armin was whisked away by Moblit before he even had a chance to gather his bearings…or before Eren could intervene. His footsteps were heavy and laced with exhaustion as they walked down to Hanji’s lab, but the need for results keep him walking, clutching the “omega” box to his chest. Moblit didn’t bother to knock, only gestured for Armin to go inside and as soon as he did, the small blonde was knocked to the ground by Hanji, who jumped him the moment they saw him. “Armin! We have hit the jackpot with your blood results, it’s fascinating! Oh good, there was an omega box there! We can sort those tonig-” “Tomorrow.” Erwin’s voice cut through Hanji’s rambling as he stepped through the doorway and into the room.

“Armin has had a long week and it’s late. We’re going to review what you found in his blood and saliva samples and tomorrow we can begin on the box, but not before that. Am I clear?” The commander asked them, raising his eyebrows. Hanji scuffed their feet and grumbled, but nodded all the same and in an instant was perked back up. They grabbed Armin with one hand and Erwin with the other and pulled them both towards their lab counter, where they clasped their hands together and turned to face the two men. “So we ran…basically every test I could think of and found some interesting results in regards to what I believe is how an omega bonds with an alpha. You see, when we combined an alpha’s saliva with Armin’s blood, the makeup changed slightly and more closely resembled that of the alpha’s unique pattern, but after a few moments it fell back into the omega pattern. The same thing happened when we tried Armin’s saliva with an alpha’s blood, but there was no effect on betas.” Hanji paused for their reactions only to sigh and roll their eyes when the two blondes stared at them.

“So what I’m saying is that there is a chemical reaction when an omega and alpha combine blood and saliva. My guess is that this reaction becomes permanent when both bite each other within a very short period of time on their scent glands. Now, this is just a hypothesis and I’m afraid there’s no way to test it unless Armin would like to be bonded to someone.” The blonde paled and shook his head while Hanji continued. “But obviously he doesn’t so we’re just going to have to label it as a ‘probably’. I’m sure pheromones play a part in this process as well and maybe there are other places one can bite to be bonded, but now we know how the blood changes and what it reacts to. Additionally, Armin your biological makeup is almost half female, half male as you _do_ in fact have a womb and milk glands along your pectoral muscle area, so if you have kids they can drink your breast milk!”

Armin, for all of his acceptance and interest into what was going on with his body, was as pale as a sheet and his face had twisted up uncomfortably. “Um…I don’t think I want to have kids.” He murmured, looking up at Erwin for some kind of assistance. The commander clasped his hand on Armin’s shoulder and shook his head. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Would regular birth control work on him?” Erwin asked Hanji, who nodded eagerly in response. “Yep! We tested for that as well and it should work perfectly fine, so I prepared a few months worth of doses and had them placed in your bedside table, I hope that’s alright with you, Armin.” Hanji said, bouncing on the balls of their feet as they spoke. Armin smiled gratefully and nodded, trying and succeeding at keeping how much he was freaking out to himself.

The three of them spoke for a while longer, reviewing everything they knew about omegas so far and making plans to go through the box the next day. Before Armin left with Erwin, Hanji pulled him to the side and grabbed his arms tightly. “You’re doing great with all of this, Armin. I know it’s a big change and probably overwhelming, but just think about how exciting it is too! You’re amazing, literally, on the inside and out, I only _wish_ I could be made like you. And if anyone ever tries to bug you, you just send them my way and I’ll let them straight. I know how to kill people eighty three different ways without leaving a trace. Also, don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything, we’re here to help you as much as we can m’kay? Time for you to get some rest, goodnight!” They were pushing Armin out of the door before he had a chance to thank them for their kind words, but when he turned around; the omega ran straight into Erwin’s back.

While he quickly stammered out apologies, Erwin interrupted him when he wrapped his arms soundly around Armin’s shoulders. “Relax.” The word was spoken as though he was giving a command on the battle field, but held all of the knee-weakening authority of an alpha and Armin’s body obeyed before his brain could even catch up. He slumped against Erwin’s chest as the commander moved a hand to the back of his neck, where he carefully grabbed Armin, effectively immobilizing the omega. A rich scent filled his nose, the same one he craved when he was in Erwin’s arms the first night of his heat and Armin allowed his eyes to fall shut, surrendering himself to whatever his commander had planned.

“You need to relax, Armin. I can see it in the way you’re standing and in the way you speak. You’re stressed and still injured from your run in with the titan. We’re lucky we didn’t lose you that day. If you need some time off to take everything in, I would understand. You just need to ask.” Erwin released the back of Armin’s neck when he finished talking, but didn’t remove the blonde from his hold. It took Armin several dozen seconds to comprehend everything, too enchanted by the pheromones and unintentional authority the man before him had. “No, no sir I’m alright. It’s just a lot of change. Please don’t worry about me, I’m fine. There are soldiers in the infirmary who have been through much worse than a little fall and a smack from a titan, I wouldn’t dare disregard them by implying that something so small need so much attention. Thank you for your concern, I’m just tired from the ride. I’ll be back with more energy tomorrow.” Armin’s voice steadily grew in confidence the longer he spoke until he was unabashedly looking up at the commander, the words falling naturally and smoothly.

Erwin only smiled and nodded at the blonde, giving one more quick squeeze to the nape of his neck before he nudged him away. “Good. Then I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow to review the contents of the omega box. Levi will be there and Eren may come if you’d like him to. Sleep well, Armin.” With that, the commander headed off to his office, back to his paperwork.

Armin went to sleep with a smile on his face that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Tess knows nothing about blood work and bullshitted that entire part oops. My bad. Sorry.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look guys, I'm not dead! Shocker, I know. I apologize for how long it's been since I last updated and a more full explanation as to what's been up can be found here:  
> http://erratic-daydreamer.tumblr.com/post/109719260731/where-have-i-been  
> It would be a huge favor to me if some of yall could give me your feedback as to the two options I put either on that post or in an ask or in a comment here, whatever.   
> Again, I'm very sorry that it's taken this long for me to update, hopefully now I'll get onto ASTW and CP, but...I've so crunched for time it's difficult. That being said, thank you for your patience and sticking with me if you're still around. I hope you enjoy the new chapter, I apologize if it seems a little mundane or sporadic, more interesting things are on the way, but I hope you like it nonetheless. As always, if you have a moment or two feedback on the story and chapter are greatly appreciated and have a beautiful day~ ^^

Listening to Eren and Levi bicker was wearing thin on Armin’s nerves. He knew that it shouldn’t, or rather, that he shouldn’t let it get to him, but they were acting like _children._ An adult and the person who was supposed to be their gift from whatever god was out there, the two best weapons they had against the titans were scowling at one another like spoiled toddlers when forced into a timeout…though that is essentially what had happened when Erwin physically separated them.

Armin was _trying_ to focus on the paper that was clutched too tightly in his hands, his knuckles white from the strain of his skin and the thin paper on the verge of being ripped in two. From one of his sides would come a quiet huff and from the other side a growl would reply. It was like some obnoxious game the two had thought up that would hit every tick the blonde had. When he felt rather than heard a low chuckle from his right, Armin swung to his left to face Eren before he could snarl in response. “Eren. If you make another sound I’m going to encourage Hanji to pursue her more risqué experiments that Mikasa objected to.”

He was almost stunned by how neutral his voice was while he carefully placed the piece of paper in the ‘read’ pile on the table before him. It wasn’t until he was halfway through the next article that Armin glanced up when the pressure of the stares around him became too much. Blue meeting blue, he blinked at Erwin, who was watching him with a raised brow. When the commander’s lips began to curl into a smirk, Armin had the sense of mind to blush and duck his head. “Are you feeling alright today, Armin? You seem a bit more…” Erwin trailed off, searching for the proper word. “Moody?” The offer came from Eren, who had crossed his arms over his chest and was slouched back in his seat. “Outspoken. You seem more outspoken than usual today.” Erwin finished, brushing off Eren’s suggestion with a small wave.

Armin knew it wasn’t a scolding or reprimand, that Erwin was legitimately curious as to why he spoke out against Eren, but his cheeks only grew hotter and he whispered out an apology, turning slightly to glance up at his best friend from under his lashes.

As if Eren could ever even pretend to stay upset when Armin looked at him like that. And those _fucking pheromones_ were going to be the death of him sooner rather than later. Guilt hit Eren like a punch to the stomach; strong enough to make him sick and remember it for days. Because he was certain that his childhood best friend wasn’t trying to seduce him just by _existing._ He had promised to tone it down, to try to control himself more, but even he could see that he was failing miserably. But Eren couldn’t help it. He was hard as a rock almost constantly now from being around Armin so much and watching how others looked at _his_ blonde set his blood on fire. The worst part was that it wasn’t Armin’s fault in the least. Armin was shoved into the situation and would have to live with it for the rest of his life. Eren could blame his behavior on his heat or his personality or Levi, but he would _never_ make Armin accountable for it. Promptly pushing himself up from his seat, Eren ruffled Armin’s hair with a laugh. “You don’t have to apologize. I should get back to training with the others though. Good luck with, uh, reading.” He said, running his hand through his own hair before dismissing himself. He’d find somewhere along the way to jerk off for the third time that day.

It was with sad eyes that Armin watched Eren leave the room and he ducked his head down farther, the paper in his hands all but forgotten. “Maybe it would be better if we called it a day.” The blonde spoke softly, quietly, like one would think a good omega should, and Erwin frowned in response. Levi, however, beat him to whatever the commander was about to say as he leaned back and kicked his feet up on the desk, fiddling with a piece of paper in his hands while he spoke. “I don’t think so. You went through a lot of trouble to get this shit, Armin. All of us did. We’re not going to let down our soldiers just because your boyfriend is being pissy. I didn’t think you were that kind of a soldier.”

As soon as the word ‘boyfriend’ left his captain’s lips, Armin flushed darkly and spluttered, stumbling over his words in an attempt to excuse himself, but Levi was having none of it and Erwin was simply watching. “I was under the impression that you were the kind to get things done. Emotions and word don’t mix well and if this omega thing is going to be such a problem for you, maybe you should find somewhere else to work. The last thing we need are more incompetent soldiers here. You’re not incompetent, are you Armin? You don’t want to be some housewife waiting for your oh so strong alpha to come home and take care of you. So stop acting like it. The military is no place for that.” Levi drawled, turning his head so he could look at the smaller blonde in the room as he spoke.

For several long moments, the room was silent and Armin was at a lack of words for the second time in the past five minutes, a rarity for the clever soldier. Slowly, a small smile spread its way across his lips and Armin ducked his head again, this time to conceal the expression rather than his bashfulness. “You’re right. Thank you, Captain Levi.” Armin spoke the title almost sarcastically, flicking his eyes over to glance at Levi one more time before he turned back to his paper.

While Armin absorbed himself in studying the never ending lines of text, Erwin and Levi were silently conversing above him; Levi with his barely there smirk and Erwin with a single eyebrow raised, looking rather impressed with how the situation worked out in Levi’s favor rather than ending with Armin storming away in tears. It wasn’t until the dismissed themselves later that evening that Levi and Erwin had a chance to speak freely in the commander’s office.

“He’s got thicker skin than most people think. There isn’t a need to baby him.” Levi spoke, leaning back in his chair. Some voice in the back of his head was scolding him for how sedentary he had been lately, too wrapped up with paperwork to train and exercise with his team, and Levi silently promised himself that starting tomorrow he would break from the research team. It would do him no good to turn into some fat bastard politician now and actions spoke much louder than words. “I’m only surprised with how quickly he seemed to pick onto what you were doing.” Erwin replied, and then paused for a moment before speaking again.

“However, it seems much of the information we’ve been able to find on omegas is…well, incorrect. Or perhaps generalized is a better term. It would have indicated that if an omega was spoken to like that they would be sniveling at the alpha’s feet, begging for forgiveness. It’s made me think that-” Cutting himself off, Erwin rested his elbows on his desk and folded his hands under his chin. Levi raised an eyebrow, but didn’t move, waiting for his superior to sort his own thoughts out. “That chances are we know more about omegas with only Armin as our source than any of those papers do…Or Armin is an outlier… _Or_ that information is extremely general and can offer us no real insight beyond biological.”

Levi kept his eyes narrowed at Erwin until he finally shrugged. “Would anyone really be surprised if Armin just happened to be the one outlaying omega? Something tells me that’s what most of us expected anyone, though chances are its just general information. Still none on how, or rather _why,_ they were wiped out in the first place?” Levi asked, gaining a small shake of Erwin’s head in response. Levi frowned slightly when the commander remained silent, blue eyes fixated on the wall behind his head and the captain sighed before pushing the matter. “You’re concerned.” Erwin blinked once, then again until he sighed and nodded.

“We can tell Armin nothing is going to be different as much as we’d like, but the other soldiers, especially those from outside the survey corps, aren’t going to feel the same. Even now, most of our own are treating him differently whether they realize it or not. Eren is proof of that. What we say only goes so far when it’s undeniable that he has an immense impact on the alphas here.” Leaning back in the chair, Erwin continued. “I value him. It’s not every day we gain someone so brilliant and he would make an incredible tactician…well, he already is one. But I can tell he doubts himself more now and we can’t have that, it could jeopardize everything he is involved with.”

  Levi was frowning slightly now and leaned forward, resting his elbows on Erwin’s desk. The silence could have lasted for seconds or hours as far as the two men knew; both of them were caught up in their own thoughts before Levi broke it. “You’ve grown attached to him.” He pointed out, glancing up at his superior. Erwin, to his credit, only smiled slightly. “I was attached to him long before I knew he was an omega, you’re aware of this.” “But it’s different now.” Levi pressed and Erwin chuckled, low and deep and honest. “Everything is different now, Levi. Not that I believe it to be a bad or good thing yet. You yourself have grown quite attached to him recently,” The commander quickly raised a hand when Levi made a move to protest, “Don’t bother denying it, Levi. I can see it in everyone; even Hanji seems to be coddling him rather than treating him as an experiment.”

With an almost nonexistent huff, Levi flopped back in his chair and crossed his arms. “What are you trying to imply?” He questioned, closely watching the way Erwin’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. “Armin’s existence is unpredictable at the moment. What is to happen if he’s on a mission and he suddenly goes into heat? Eren had me bring him to his cell, but even as it was just beginning, I could hardly stop myself from jumping him. You yourself were unable to control the more primal desires we have and _yes,_ Levi, I know that’s the truth, do not deny it. If he were to go into heat on a mission I not only worry about him, but the others around him. Additionally, I don’t know what our protocol would be if he were to get pregnant.”

Leaning back once more, Erwin closed his eyes tightly. He didn’t get paid enough for the crap he had to think through. “But we cannot lose him and I will not force him to withdraw from the field due to his dynamic. Should anyone suggest such to you, I give you full permission to berate them for it. However…I need him watched, Levi. Carefully. In addition to Eren, you and your team will officially be assigned to safeguard cadet Arlert and ensure none of the other soldiers take action against him. I expect you to continue treating him as you have always been, he will continue to train with the others and most of all I do not want him feeling like you’ve started to go easy on him.”

Slowly, as Erwin spoke, Levi began to smile…well; really it was more of a smirk. “I understand perfectly. Armin probably won’t be happy with having to be watched over, but I’m sure he’ll understand and appreciate it more than he would if he had to be pulled from the field. Is that all?” Levi asked, pushing himself up onto his feet and making a move to exit, but Erwin stopped him before he could fully reach the door. “Hanji is working to develop some form of birth control that will work for him as a precaution. And Levi? Stop bickering with Eren. You know his feelings towards Armin are… _complicated._ I don’t need to deal with one of my officers taunting someone years younger than him.”

Though his teeth were gritted slightly, more frustrated about the fact he _had_ been bickering with Eren in the first place rather than Erwin calling him out on it, Levi nodded and made his exit from the room, heading towards his team’s quarters to tell them the new plan.

To Armin’s credit, he was trying. He really was. But suddenly being aware that half of the soldiers in the camp were staring at you, _drooling_ at you, wasn’t an easy thing to deal with and he thought he was handling it quite well. Twice now he had to use what Mikasa, Marco and Bertholdt had officially dubbed his ‘ _I can kill you with my mind powers’_ voice to warn people off of him and it was tedious to say the least. So he dismissed himself from dinner early, not having much of an appetite in the first place and allowed his mind to wander as he walked slowly through the encampment.

Leave it to the smartest cadet in the ranks to forget the number one rule: always remain alert, even among allies. He practically jumped out of his skin when a hand curled around his arm and with one firm pull had him with his back to a wall in what would have been considered an alley if their camp had alleys. Ironic. Mentally exhausted already, Armin glared at the young soldier who was standing before him, too close for comfort. However, neither of them spoke. Armin was waiting for his possible attacker to say something, but he just seemed content with staring at, or rather _into,_ Armin with furrowed brows.

When he took a step forward, Armin took one back. Wary, his hand curled around the handle of a small knife he carried in his belt and thankfully hadn’t forgotten. Rather than lunging at Armin, the soldier slowly moved forward until he had his nose up against Armin’s neck and chills had broken out over Armin’s skin from the bottom of his spine up to where the man’s lips were brushing against his skin as he inhaled the blonde’s unique scent.

“So it’s true. Shit, you really do smell good.” Armin cringed away from how husky and gravely his voice was, but the man made no move to step away. Instead, he traced his fingers up Armin’s side and the omega tightened his hold on the knife, pulling it halfway from the sheath. “You know, I read once that omegas go _crazy_ for alpha cock.” The man rasped, continuing to trace little shapes up along Armin’s chest in what he probably assumed was a sensual manner. Armin couldn’t help but wrinkle up his nose in disgust as he scoffed at the statement. Another asshole who thought Armin would just _revolve_ around his dick as if it were the source of his life.

“I hate to break it to you, but you heard wrong, so if you would please _move-”_ Armin’s last word turned into an almost-shriek and he shrank down into himself when the man went so far as to drag his tongue across Armin’s scent gland and _moaned._ The knife was pressed to the man’s neck in time with a voice that sounded from the entrance of the gap, both freezing the impulsive soldier in his tracks. “Let go of him.” Armin wasn’t entirely sure who he was expecting. Actually, that was a lie. He assumed if anyone would save him in such a situation it would be Erwin or Levi or Eren, but scowling deeply at the now petrified soldier, Ymir was leaning almost casually against a wall.

Had he been less annoyed, Armin would have felt bad for how terrified the soldier looked as he flailed between a knife to his throat and a vicious woman to his back, but spitting out excuses, he bolted from the alley, stumbling over his own feet as he went. Armin found himself laughing along with Ymir soon after, who jerked her head for Armin to get out of the confined space. “Didn’t even need my help, huh Armin?” She asked, grinning down at the knife as the blonde settled it back into the sheath.

He still had the humility to blush and shrug, looking down at his feet as Ymir laughed again. “Thanks for that. Lately people are, uh…” When Armin trailed off, she snorted and shook her head, lightly punching the omega in the shoulder while they began to walk together towards the barracks. “Hey, don’t mention it, it’s just…I wasn’t like that, was I? When I nabbed you back then?” For all of his intelligence and skill in reading people, Armin was genuinely surprised at how concerned Ymir sounded. Of course, she said the words more like a grumble, but he read them perfectly and smiled, going so far as to knock into her side slightly in response. “No. You weren’t like that, I told you not to worry about it. I didn’t think you were going to do much in the middle of the mess hall.” He grinned, listening to her bark a laugh.

“Yeah, well you’ve kinda ruined my plans now. The mess hall was one thing, can’t do much to you _anywhere_ now or I may get a knife to my throat. Quite frankly I like my throat how it is. And that’s not even taking Mikasa or Eren or Bertholdt or Marco or Krista…” Trailing off, Ymir shook her head. “Shit, you’ve got a lot of people taking care of you, blondie. But you can take damn good care of yourself. M’lady.” She offered, flourishing her hand when she opened the door to the men’s barracks for Armin. Giggling, Armin pretended to curtsy and stepped inside. “Night, brain. Try not to stab anyone in your sleep.” The freckled woman called, waving her hand behind her as she jogged off. Still laughing quietly, Armin settled into his bed and, after consideration, left enough room for Eren.    


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is awkward, I don't think many people don't update for more than a year and just pop back up but...I got the urge to write annnnnnd so I did. Enjoy?

Eren didn't join Armin that night. When he woke up in the morning, the brunette was still absent, his bed persistently made by Armin several mornings ago. Rather than lay in bed, Armin left the warmth of his covers behind and got ready for the day. With everything that happened lately, he hardly had time to think, let alone spend time to himself. Something told him this wasn't going to change any time soon. Stretching when he stood, he made his way to the bath house and allowed himself to actually enjoy the warm water while it was left, a stark contrast to the normally rushed showers they all took. When he was fully relaxed, he redressed and walked around the camp. It was different from last night. This time, he could allow his thoughts to wander without the fear of another soldier sneaking up on him. Of course, some of the older soldiers woke up earlier, but they had shown the least concern for Armin's dynamic. Settling on a hillside, he leaned his head back and took a deep breath. For once the air wasn't clogged with battling pheromones or dirt or sweat. Everything out here was just  _clean_ and it brought a kind of peace to Armin's mind that he had missed the past few weeks. 

However, good things rarely last. It wasn't long until the sound of footsteps approaching him had Armin jolting to awareness, his head turning to look at who it was. A man he recognized vaguely stopped a few feet away from Armin, his eyes holding a kind of unprecedented contempt for the blonde that had Armin standing to face him. "I'm sorry, uh, can I help you?" He questioned warily. Nile Dok. As if the military police insignia on his jacket wasn't enough to identify the man, there were few who looked down on other soldiers like those of the military police. By his side were two other soldiers and  _Annie._ It had been ages since he had last seen the stone faced woman and her presence had him perking up. "Perhaps. I have a meeting with your commander." Nile replied. To Armin, his voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Hesitating, the blonde soon realized that he wasn't going to continue speaking and furrowed his brows. "Would...you like me to show you to his office?" Armin asked, almost hesitantly. Already, he was grateful he joined the survey corps. This man, everything about him just seemed  _wrong._

"I would have thought that was obvious." Nile stated. Behind him, one of the soldiers laughed, grinning widely when Armin's attention fell on her. He didn't understand these people, didn't like how easily they embodied maliciousness. The soldiers, at least. Nile...he was simply  _cold._ Wore disconnection like it was perfectly normal. Nodding in understanding, Armin turned and moved towards Erwin's office, glancing behind him on occasion to ensure that he was being followed. Other than the occasional giggle from the soldiers behind him, the walk was completely silent. Knocking on Erwin's door, Armin took a step back and saluted when it was opened, a courtesy he was just realizing he had denied the other officer. "Sir, you have visitors." He announced, stepping off to the side so the others could move past him. Nodding slowly, Erwin mimicked the action, stepping out of the doorway and opening his arm to welcome them in. "Right on time, as usual. Ah, Armin, I'd like you to stay for this if you don't mind." Erwin stated as Armin was turning away, happy to be removing himself from the situation.

Glancing back at the commander, he nodded and followed him into the room. Already at the table were Mike, Levi and Hanji, but his seat was left open, between Levi and Erwin. Sitting down meekly, he glanced at Hanji, the question clear in his eyes. The only response he was given was a smile and a thumbs up from them before Erwin cleared his voice and started speaking. Everything started off as a usual meeting, discussions about the different training and expeditions that each branch performed. Armin had attended meetings of a similar nature before, primarily meant as a lead up to the overall military meetings, so there were as few surprises brought up as possible. It didn't take long for Armin to become captivated with the discussions. What people like Eren and Reiner referred to as "brain melting-ly boring", the little blonde found fascinating. It was another step towards learning how people  _worked,_ what motivated them and why. Having Annie in the room was slightly distracting. He found himself regularly glancing over at her, internally hoping one of those times she would be looking back. As much as Armin missed the woman's presence, he also knew Bertholdt and Reiner would be upset if she left without seeing them. Not that a simple glance from Armin would change that, but he could hope. 

Minutes or hours could have passed by the time the military police members were standing, Nile shaking hands with Erwin. "Armin, would you please show them out for us? Go on to the mess hall when you're done." Erwin stated, to which Armin nodded quickly, standing and ushering them to the door. Then, he was able to catch Annie's eye, the look on her face was strange, unreadable and seemed to be boring a hole into Armin's own. Clearing his throat, as if it would break the awkward tension, Armin led the group back to the entrance to their camp, which was rapidly livening up with trainees and soldiers alike doing their chores. "Sir." Armin acknowledged, remembering to salute this time as he stood by. He desperately wanted to say something to Annie when she nodded at him as she walked by, but he kept his mouth shut, sighing quietly. As he turned to leave, however, he was stopped by a hand that lashed out to grab his arm. Looking behind him, Armin was met with the indiscernible eyes of Nile Dok, the older man's mouth pulled into a tight line. It wasn't until his grip made Armin whine, an almost silent noise, that a voice cut through the growing tension. "Commander. We have another meeting." Annie. The woman was looking at the two with what could only be amounted to as mild curiosity, whereas the other two soldiers were long gone. With a grunt, Armin was freed, his right hand moving to cradle his arm protectively. "I apologize. I'm sure we will be seeing more of you, cadet." Was the only response Nile gave before the two military police were gone from his sight.

For the most part, Armin managed to brush off the strange encounter. Despite what he said, the blonde doubted he would be seeing much of Dok any time soon. At breakfast, he found himself sitting between Bertholdt and Connie, rather than his usual spot with Eren and Mikasa. When he looked at the pair from across the table, Mikasa simply gave a little shake of her head, but Eren wouldn't meet his eyes. If anything, the brunette seemed determined to avoid looking in Armin's direction at all. The good news was that the omega was realizing how easy it was becoming to tolerate the combination of battling pheromones in the mess hall. Unlike the first week, he didn't feel suffocated or turned on or dizzy. There were still scents that stood out, but overall, it was becoming normalized to his senses. Occasionally, Armin looked over, trying to meet Eren's eyes, but all he was ever graced with was the side of his friends's face, pointedly turned away from him.

It wasn't until sparring practice that Armin had a chance to speak with him. Clearly, Eren was less than thrilled about the way the blonde dismissed Reiner and chose himself as Eren's counterpoint instead. "Why have you been ignoring me?" Armin asked as they began, bringing his arms up in a defensive position. He knew Eren wouldn't go all out on him, not the way he did against some of the other soldiers. Proven correct when the brunette fainted to the side, they began their little dance, Armin stepping back every time the alpha moved forward. "Eren, why have you been ignoring me?" Armin asked again, surprised at how calm his voice remained. Eren stopped moving and glared at the ground before he shrugged. "I...I get that I haven't been acting well lately, Arm. Hanji actually suggested me that maybe I need to distance myself from you. Because I'm around you all the time and now with the pheromone thing, they suggested it may be too much. And especially because I'm already more  _possessive_ of you, separation, or at least putting some distance between us, may help." 

By the end of the explanation, Eren was mumbling his words and staring at the ground. When he looked up, however, he was met with Armin wrapping his arm around the brunette's neck and burying his face into his chest. "That doesn't mean you have to ignore me." The blonde's words were hard to make out, muffled by the fabric, but they immediately softened Eren until he was resting his cheek against blonde hair. He'd always been more emotional than other boys his age, but hearing Eren talk had been like a kick to his stomach. Just when he thought it was becoming progressively easier to ignore the effects his dynamic had on others, it had to be Eren of all people who was separating from him because of it. Pressing his face more tightly against Eren's chest, Armin's fingers clenched around his shirt and he curled closer to the alpha when someone yelled for them to stop cuddling and get back to work. "Arm, hey Armin, I'm sorry." Taking a chance to look up when Eren spoke, Armin stepped back then, brushing his hair out of his face. "I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just... _everything_ I do now seems to upset you. I'm just trying to do what's best." Eren explained with a sigh. In response, Armin smiled and nodded. "I know. Thank you, Eren. But, but I don't  _ever_ want you to ignore me. You're my best friend and not being around you, it  _hurts."_ Maybe it wasn't fair of Armin to say these things, and he didn't want to stop and think as to  _why_ he was being so blunt in the first place, but when Eren went to respond, they were interrupted by a hand clamping down on Eren's back. Reiner. "C'mon Jaeger, we're switching up now, Armin, you're with Sasha."

Having promised to talk later, at the end of training Armin's entire body ached. Unlike some of the other squad members, Sasha had no qualms about knocking Armin on his ass. It was only half day and he felt sweaty, grimy and uncomfortable. Tying his hair back from his face as he walked, a rarity for most to see, he made his way to Erwin's office for the second time that day. While most of the other soldiers would be learning strategy, they were the strategies  _he_ helped come up with. Instead of attending those lessons, Armin's responsibility was to get together with Erwin and create more. Knocking lightly on the door, he waited for the familiar permission to come in. Settling down happily in his chair, Armin let out a breath he'd been holding since earlier that morning when the military police showed up. He much preferred the office like this, quiet other than the flipping of pages from Erwin at his desk or Armin's scratches on paper. Soothing. Armin was lost in his thoughts by the time Erwin sat next to him, snapping his attention to the commander while he cleared his throat. It was easy to fall into work. Initially, they had civil small talk, but now, both men went to work immediately without a word. The interruptions threw the omega off slightly. 

"What did you think of the meeting this morning, Armin?" Erwin asked, sliding a cup of tea over towards the blonde. Accepting it with a gracious smile, he hesitated before bringing the cup up to his lips, then answering. "I'm sorry Sir, but it didn't seem any different from the other meetings I've seen. Everything was...mundane, I suppose." Nodding slowly, Erwin raised an eyebrow, settling back farther into his seat. "Which is what I thought as well. It wasn't a prerequisite meeting, but Nile chose to hold it as one. They requested that we meet with them and didn't tell us the intentions when they were here." Furrowing his brows, Armin looked up at his commander, who met his gaze. "So then...why do you think they decided to come?" At the question, Erwin's eyes closed and he sighed. "There could be a few reasons, but..." "But you think they came because of me." Realization quickly dawned on Armin as he spoke. It made sense. News of his dynamic took but a day or two to spread around the camp, there was no surprise if it had been passed on to the other branches of the military. Furthermore, the look Nile had given him matched up. If they came here to find an omega, they certainly succeeded. 

Armin didn't realize he was rubbing his fingers against his temples until larger hands were covering his, moving them away to take their place with a gentle massage. "I apologize. My intentions in telling you weren't to make you more stressed. I assumed you would have wanted to know. That's why we kept you in the room, better to have you under our eye than up for grabs to anyone who came along with them." As Erwin spoke, Armin's eyes somehow closed, falling into the soothing feeling of rotating fingers. "No, I...I get it, thank you for telling me." But how long would it be until his dynamic became a burden on those around him? Eren was avoiding him, the military police wanted something from him and he couldn't be alone with the majority of the soldiers. As if reading his mind, though perhaps the tears welling up in the corners of Armin's eyes gave him a clue, Erwin turned the smaller blonde towards him. "This has no impact on you, Armin. They can wonder all they would like, but you're a valued member of our squad here. That's not going to change."

His voice was as calm and controlling as ever and Armin found his cheek resting against the larger man's palm, having turned his head to nuzzle farther into the touch. Breathing in deeply through his nose, he allowed the alpha's scent to calm him, along with an almost-humming noise from the back of Erwin's throat. Light headed, he turned his eyes up towards his commander for a moment before dropping his cheek back against the hand. A far away part of Armin realized this  _should_ be embarrassing, that a month ago he would have been easily humiliated. But considering Erwin had already seen him naked and fingering himself, this seemed dull in comparison while melting away the tension that he'd built up during the day. Tension he had woken up hoping would be long gone.

When Armin's eyes blinked open again, Erwin was still looking down at him, his expression soft. His hand hadn't moved, he hadn't embraced Armin or cradled him like a lover would. Instead, his commander had remained perfectly still while _crooning_ to the smaller blonde, whose face flushed immediately at the realization. "I, uh, I'm sorry Sir." Armin murmured quietly, straightening up in his chair and pulling away from the other man. "You don't have to apologize. I understand that you've been under a lot of stress and pressure recently. If you," Erwin paused and for the first time, Armin thought he looked unsure of himself. "If you ever need someone to talk to or calm you down, my door is always open." He finished, his hand moving as if to caress Armin's face again, but he paused halfway and drew it back to his side. "I don't want you to think you're not essential to m-...the military." Smiling, Armin nodded at his words and moved to stand, stretching out his stiffened muscles. "Thank you commander, I still apologize. Please get some rest. I don't want  _you_ to think you're not essential." His smile growing, as Armin knew that would never happen, he saluted before excusing himself. 

They must have been in the office longer than Armin thought because the sun was already setting as he rushed to the mess hall. Funny, he thought, how even a single day could become a roller coaster of emotions. Though he had woken up ready to brush off everything from the past few months, it all piled back on him only to be lifted once more. Hurrying to grab his food, he was thrilled to see his usual spot, between Eren and Mikasa, open and ready for him. Settling in, Armin let his mind fall into the pointless banter of his teammates, laughing as loudly as everyone else when Marco blatantly flirted with Jean, much to the latter's embarrassment. Some things would never change. It wasn't until they were in the bathing room that Armin decided to put his foot down. Some stupid dynamic didn't mean he would let himself be walked over, that much was already proven. Twice. Grabbing Eren's arm when he stepped out from the flow of water, Armin spoke, oblivious to the flush that colored his friend's cheeks. "You're going to sleep with me again, right? I don't like sleeping alone and Gods know I don't want to ask Connie, he's a blanket hog." Watching his friend stammer out a yes was answer enough. 

In the barracks that night, Armin pressed himself closely against Eren's chest, resting his nose against the alpha's scent gland. Though he hesitated, Eren quickly reciprocated the action, one hand resting against the blonde's lower back as the other stroked through his hair. It wasn't until snoring broke the silence in the room that Eren whispered to him. "'M sorry, Arm." Not bothering to open his eyes, Armin only pressed himself more tightly against Eren and gave a minute shake of his head. "You don't have to be sorry. You're here now. I'm here now. I still love you, that's all that matters." He whispered back. It had been an experience, the first time Eren kissed his forehead and told him he loved Armin. They were just kids and love was a simple thing. Now, as adults, it somehow retained the same meaning as back then, a bond that wasn't easily frayed let alone broken. "I didn't mean to make you feel bad." Eren, always one to get caught up on things. Armin knew it wasn't fair, he wasn't playing fair as he scraped his teeth against the alpha's neck, earning a sharp gasp in return. "It's done, we're fine, let it go. We'll always be fine. But you're annoying when you insist on things." That was their relationship. Something more than friends, something unspoken, that left a deep seated mark on the both of them, but they always healed one another. It was just how they  _worked._ Hearing Eren scoff, Armin smiled, falling asleep to fingers through his hair and the sound of Eren grumbling that  _Armin_ was the one who insisted on things.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been not quite two months since I last updated, so certainly an improvement from the last break. Also I'm trying the whole breaking paragraphs at dialogue thing, but not so sure how I feel about it yet. Since I'm so crunched on time, this is probably going to be the norm between chapters as I've only been able to write when I not only have enough muse to do so, but can also put some time aside. It's pretty rare. However, this story is certainly still alive in my head as is the setting for another A/B/O fic that I may start on soon. Thanks for keeping up with it through the breaks yall and have a beautiful day ^^

The days moved quickly after Armin's encounter with the Military Police. The squad never made a reappearance and the blonde was beginning to question what exactly their intentions were. Organizing a meeting only to affirm that there was indeed an omega seemed pointless and while there must have been some underlying motive, the incident faded to the back of Armin's mind by the next month. After all, he had another expedition to prepare for.

While Eren and Levi still butted heads, the former's attitude had improved greatly. Whether it was due to the regular exposure to Armin's pheromones or Hanji's separation tactic, the blonde was grateful. It made life in the barracks easier for everyone involved. As his mind wandered, he didn't notice the footsteps behind him until a hand clamped over his shoulder, jerking him away from his thoughts.

"While we love your brilliant mind, I'm sure the commander wouldn't be happy with you leaving yourself open to surprise." Came the familiar overly cheerful voice.

Turning to acknowledge Hanji behind him, Armin ducked his head in slight embarrassment. At least he was only on gear cleaning duty which, while certainly important, wasn't something being distracted would lead to a consequence for. "Unfortunately, the leather isn't much for conversation." He offered with a slight smile. "But you're right, of course. Is there something you needed from me?"

As friendly as they may be, Hanji only left the titans for meetings or, more recently, to request Armin for tests. "But of course. We were hoping to experiment more with the heat suppressants before your next heat. Even if it's manageable, it would be more convenient to not have to lock you in a cage for a week again. Plus, I'm not sure how well Eren will take to us sending Levi in for a second time."

Armin's cheeks flushed darker at the reminder that it was his commander who'd personally...assisted him through his heat. He'd barely been able to look the other man in the eyes since then. "Of course. I was about finished here anyway. We do have another month and a half or so until my next heat is supposed to start from everything we've read."

Nodding quickly, Hanji turned on their heel and started on the path to their lab. "While you aren't wrong, we still want to be cautious. There are a number of variables that we know nothing about...well, really we know nothing about a lot of this since all of the data is ancient and mostly unreadable. So there is a slight possibility your heat could come tomorrow. And starting early gives us an opportunity to adjust and try to make the medicine as efficient as possible before the three months is up."

Having scrambled after her, Armin listened carefully. The uniqueness of being an omega had fortunately died off for most of the members of the Scouting Legion, however he knew the closer he got to his heat the more potent and uncontrollable his pheromones would become. Chewing on his bottom lip, the blonde nodded in agreement, stepping over the threshold of Hanji's lab before promptly dropping into a chair. "Do you already have a prototype?"

The question was answered with a proud flourish of two large pills in the palm of Hanji's hand. "This is, of course, our first real test and may not be effective, but we're mostly checking for side effects at this point. If effective, you'll have to take two a day every day. But for now, we simply need you to report if you're feeling woozy or nauseous or anything out of the ordinary as soon as you register it."

Accepting the pills from their hand, then the cup of water that followed, he swallowed them without missing a beat. Even though the thought of having to take pills every day seemed tedious, it was better than having to go through another heat, though according to their readings, the first should have been the worst of them.

The next few hours were spent following up prior research and taking additional samples of saliva and blood though, much to Hanji's despair, Armin still refused to offer up a semen sample. The sun was setting by the time they were done and, per Hanji's recommendation, the blonde made his way to the mess hall. However, as the building came into sight, his nose wrinkled up uncomfortably, a muddling of powerful scents making his stomach churn before he'd even reached the entrance.

Shaking his head, he turned to leave, figuring it would be just as easy to return when most of the soldiers had cleared out, only to come face to face with Levi. Opening his mouth to greet his captain, the omega snapped it shut just as quickly. The alpha's scent was overpowering and mouthwatering.

Furrowing his brows, Levi reached out to grab Armin's chin and tilt it upwards, the omega watching him with wide eyes. "What the hell Arlert? Your pupils are so wide you look like you're on drugs. And why are you shaking?"

Jerking his head slightly to snap him out of the daze, Levi's grip tightened. Rather than hurting, however, little sparks danced across Armin's nerves wherever he touched. Licking his lips, as if that would allow him to regain his voice, Armin simply nodded and before he realized it, had grabbed for Levi's shirt, twisting his hands in the fabric. "Yes you're on drugs?"

Levi's voice was incredulous, his expression shifting from confusion to surprise to discomfort when the blonde shifted closer to him. Humming in agreement, Armin buried his nose into the captains neck, trying to get as close as possible to the delicious scent.

"Hanji's heat suppressant." He mumbled under his breath, only to be met with a harsh laugh from the captain.

"Well it's not really working now is it?" Levi practically growled, his stance stiff and uncomfortable as he considered the best way to pry the blonde off of him. He was, however, incorrect. Rather than driving Armin into a frenzy as an alpha's scent did when he was in heat, whatever this was couldn't be considered comparable. Despite pushing himself into Levi's arms, he didn't feel an incessant need to crawl into bed with the alpha, just to be around his scent. "It's not, uh, heat. This is different. Should tell Hanji."

Armin, however, made no attempt to separate himself from the captain and only nosed more firmly against his scent gland, humming happily when the pheromones spiked. There was an odd sense of deja vu when he was lifted off the ground as if he weighed nothing and carried off. He was once again jolted from his own mind when he was dumped down in a chair. Much to his embarrassment, the omega immediately whined in the back of his throat, reaching back up towards Levi who retreated into the corner of Erwin's office. As soon as he was gone, however, there was a large hand against the back of his neck.

"Now Levi, there's no need for you to be cruel." The large man chided gently, allowing Armin to twist his arms around his neck and sigh in relief when he was surrounded by an entirely different, but equally delicious scent. "I'm assuming that this is a side effect of what we were just speaking about?"

Armin raised his head slightly at the question, registering Hanji leaning forward in their seat near Erwin's desk, eyes alight with curiosity before speaking. "Looks like it. This is quite good, really. Better that we find out as soon as possible so we can fix...this. Moblit and I will start working on a new suppressant tonight. Armin, there won't be a need for you to stop by in the morning, we'll send for you whenever we've got a new pill for you to try."

"Another? How many of these incidents can we expect?" Levi's voice broke through, but Armin didn't bother trying to meet his eyes. As if he needed another reason to be uncomfortable near his captain. "You seem to be forgetting he's a member of my squad and I need him to fulfill duties just like anyone else. He won't exactly be able to do that while he's whimpering and clinging to the closest alpha in the vicinity."

Those words stung a little. A lot. Clearly noting his discomfort, Erwin's hand clamped down on his neck again and just like that night the past month, the commander crooned quietly to him. "I'm sure if you have a problem with it, we can relocate him to a different squad. Mike is quite enamored with Armin here, I'm sure he'd be a welcome addition."

Armin missed the darkened scowl Levi leveled at Erwin and the shrug he got in response. "Of course that's not what I'm implying." The smaller alpha gritted out. "I'm just saying that this whole...messing with the dynamics thing seems to be causing more problems than helping any. Most of the soldiers have finally calmed down and yet here we are in a situation that could get them all up in arms again. You're taking him out of service for who knows how long just to dodge a few days. We don't take rut suppressants, so what's the point of all this?"

Had he been in his right mind, Armin would have noted that Levi had a good point there, but Erwin intervened. "We've already seen that his heat is different, but more importantly, it puts him and everyone around him in danger. We don't have anyone affected by our ruts, except perhaps now Armin. Whereas when he comes into a heat it will affect every alpha nearby not only to go after him but after any challengers. We were lucky enough last time that only Eren and I were near him but more than anyone, you should understand what kind of effect an omega can have on us."

Though clearly frustrated at Erwin's words, Levi only nodded silently while the larger alpha continued to croon to Armin. Standing from their seat, Hanji gestured to Levi to follow as they moved towards the door. "Well with that productive conversation out of the way, I believe Levi and I will be taking our leave now. He should be fine by morning. Have a good night Erwin."

When the door closed behind them, Erwin spoke again, brushing Armin's hair from his face and pulling him away slightly. "I'm afraid I don't think it would be the best idea to send you back to the barracks tonight. If you'd like you're more than welcome to take my bed, I was planning on working late tonight anyway."

Armin gave no response other than a contented hum as he shifted slightly against the commander, who chuckled under his breath. "As much as I'd like to stay here with you, I do have to excuse myself and it will probably be best for you to be as far away from pheromones as possible. You know what door my room is through, please make yourself comfortable."

And suddenly Armin was alone in the room, the door closing once more, this time behind Erwin as he promptly left.

Once outside of the room, Erwin was immediately met with Levi leaning against the wall, legs and arms crossed as he eyed the larger man. Chuckling with a shake of his head, Erwin gestured for the captain to follow him before speaking. "You should be more gentle with him."

"He's a soldier. He doesn't need people to be gentle with him. It's that kind of thinking that led to the division between dynamics all those years ago." Levi retorted. Not that such division was really possible anymore, nor did Levi even pretend to think that was Erwin's true goal. "You're gotten too soft on him. You don't want anyone to think you're playing favorites just to get him into your bed."

Smiling in response, Erwin cocked his head, looking down at Levi as they walked. "Is that why you've decided to crack down on him? You don't want anyone thinking you have an attachment? I don't think that's something you have to worry about, the soldiers here have learned better by now and any assumption would be shot down by his friends before we'd have to say anything."

Scoffing slightly, Levi shook his head again. "The soldiers aren't who I'm worried about. Any news from the central? You know that Dok was sniffing around him for a reason. They have to be plotting something or they wouldn't have wasted their time coming all the way over here."

To that, Erwin paused. "Nothing yet. Whatever they plan to do with him, I'm sure they're recognizing how much of a struggle that will be. They'll have to bypass everyone from here and any research excuse won't fly considering we have the best scientist in our employ."

"Whatever it is, you should be ready to fight against them, they're probably going to get the King against us which means we need to have the Garrison on our side." Levi muttered, his brow furrowing in thought only for Erwin to laugh beside him. "Fuck off. This is something we need to be taking seriously. I've got kids to kick to bed and you need to take a shower. You stink of omega." And with that, Levi was off into the night, leaving Erwin to ponder his words.

Levi resisted the urge to snarl under his breath as he walked. He too smelled like the omega and it was driving him crazy. Armin had gotten relatively accustomed to restraining her pheromones in the camp, but when he saw the captain that night Levi had been immediately assaulted by the need to protect the omega. It was infuriating being so out of control of his own actions around the blonde. Since the night of his heat, any time Levi encountered Armin his instincts screamed for him to finish the job, just sink his teeth into the scent gland and mark the omega as his. Keep that brat Eren away from him for good. It was extremely problematic, especially when his commander seemed to have developed a similar affection. He didn't need to be unconsciously competing with Erwin and yet there they were.

Meanwhile, as Levi was brooding, Erwin made his way back to his office, pleased that Armin was nowhere in sight, but there was a constant scent coming from his bedroom. Good. Armin needed to rest more than he did, the constant black circles under his eyes was a dead giveaway to anyone who paid attention that he had many restless nights. It was a constant source of guilt for Erwin, really, that he was able to live so comfortably while his soldiers were struggling. That was why he tried as much as possible to put himself in their shoes. At least with Armin he could give one comfort and he would continue to do so despite what Levi had implicated. He wasn't wrong anyway. Settling down at his desk for the night, he shot a fond smile towards the door before returning to the stacks of paperwork he still needed to finish.

Armin awoke slowly. His eyes seemed to be glued shut. When they opened however, the dim light of the room had him squinting to see, then jerking forward with a start, only to find himself restrained against a chair, rope tied tightly around his arms, chest, legs and mouth. Suddenly wide awake, his head whipped around in a panic as he writhed and desperately twisted his limbs. "Calm down, omega. Even if ya squirm, you're not goin' to get yourself anywhere."

The voice drawled from the corner of the room and Armin immediately turned his eyes to the source. A man stood, lazily holding a gun in one hand with a hat that covered half his face from view. "Now, now, don't look at me like that. I'm not the one who decided to stick you in here. Just in charge of capture and guard. From what I've been told, you know well enough to blame the mastermind rather than the executors."

His voice sent shivers down Armin's spine. There weren't many men who could easily look at a captive and talk to them as if nothing was wrong with the picture. "Right, y' can't talk back, sorry 'bout that again but those were the instructions. Good thing ya' decided to sleep in the commander's quarters. Made it easier to nab ya' out than if you were surrounded by other soldiers. Guess the rumors there hold some truth, eh?"

As he spoke, Armin's glare grew. This man was mocking him, knowing he couldn't respond to anything that was being said in the first place. "Easy there kitten, ya should save your anger for the others." Mystery man remarked, stepping closer to push Armin's hair from his face. "Though they weren't jokin' eh? You really are quite a pretty thing."

Before the man could say anything else, another voice spoke from somewhere behind Armin. "I thought we made it clear he's not to be touched."

This one was familiar and Armin's blood ran cold. "Pleasure to see you again Arlert, though I suppose you won't feel the same." The female soldier from Nile Dok's visit. Her voice was as nasal-y and malicious as he remembered and she sneered as she walked around him.

"I wasn't doin' anything to him, don't worry. Where's your boss?" The unknown man must have been talking about Dok. Armin scowled in response to her eye roll. His arms burned from where he'd been twisting them against the rope, but it was blatantly clear they were tied too tightly for him to hope to break. Think it through, then act. That would be best in this situation.

"He'll be here shortly to move the omega. Until then, just keep an eye on him and don't touch." The last two words were hissed out as the woman stormed away, a door slamming behind her as she left. "Well then. At least we've got each other for company before they start breedin' you, huh kid?" At the question, Armin's stomach dropped and his attention became entirely focused on one word. Breeding.

Meanwhile, the military camp was in chaos since Erwin went to awaken Armin only to find the room completely empty. There was no sign of a struggle or a break in, nor did the commander hear anything suspicious during the night.

"What do you mean he's gone?!" Mikasa was left holding Eren back as he tried to move from his seat, his voice ringing throughout the meeting room. Rather than keep the issue quiet, they decided to gather their best and brightest to immediately respond to the issue. The room was packed with Levi and Mike's squads, along with Hanji and of course, Erwin. "It's not like he just walked away and this is a fucking military camp! How does someone break into a military camp we have soldiers posted everywhere!"

"Sit the fuck down." Levi snapped from his seat, arms crossed tightly over his chest. "We've already told you everything we know. He was in the commander's quarters at night and in the morning, he wasn't. There's no way he got passed Erwin and clearly we've already searched the camp. Logic says someone took him and I'm betting it was the military police."

"That doesn't make sense, the military police have much more influence over the King, right? So it probably would have been easier for them just to get the King's backing and lawfully take him." Krista spoke up this time, her usually soft voice filling the room. "And that still doesn't explain what use the military has for him in the first place."

"Yeah and why was he in the commander's quarters anyway?" As soon as Ymir posed the question, Eren had swung his gaze onto her, but Erwin spoke up before he could say anything.

"We were testing a new type of heat suppressant that had an adverse effect and thought it best to keep him isolated rather than sending him to the barracks. That's not what matters here." Scanning the room, Erwin steeled his expression. "Armin is an essential soldier to the Survey Corps. Him being taken is a direct attack against our branch and whoever it was, we need to find him as soon as possible. That is why you were called here. If your emotions are going to get in the way," This time, his gaze focused on Eren. "You are excused from the mission. However, for those who choose to accept, we are immediately starting an investigation and search. The expedition that was planned can't be carried out without him and as such, finding Armin has become our first priority. If you're all placated now, we'll begin to explain the plan."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so funny, I'm looking at my notes from forever ago that are like "It's been a month since an update, I'm the worst, I'm so sorry". Well, it's been a year since an update BUT HERE I AM, COMING AT YOU WITH A NEW CHAPTER. In all seriousness though, please don't expect these works to be continually updated. Occasionally I get a drive to write, so I do, but specifically in this story (since I may write a few chapters today, who knows), I'm going to drop some plot points from the past. So if something seems like it was mentioned beforehand then never brought up again, it's probably because that's exactly what happened. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone continually supporting me over this past year when I've been gone, that's been super cool to come back to. Enjoy captured Armin.

Armin was practically hyperventilating in the chair. The room had fallen silent when the female soldier left, save an occasional comment from the too-calm man tasked with watching over him. Rather than feel relieved that one of his kidnappers had left the room, every minute that went by sent Armin's anxiety skyrocketing. They were going to move him. For breeding. Back at the camp he'd been convinced everything was going to calm down. The other soldiers stopped staring at him like they wanted to eat him, Eren had backed down, things were falling back into place after his presenting. Yet here he was, arms rubbed raw against the ropes that tied him down. Tears had long since gathered in the corner of his eyes, but Armin continued to blink them away. He didn't want to let the other man, or anyone for that matter, see him cry over this.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when the door opened again and through it stepped Nile Dok. Clenching his jaw, Armin scowled up at the stoic man who was looking down at him with an unreadable expression. "Good to see you again, Armin, but you can put your claws away. They're not going to help you in here." The commander of the Military Police spoke, stepping closer to the blonde boy. It didn't make any sense. Sure, people were surprised when he had presented. It was something no one thought possible anymore. But that still didn't explain why the Military Police wanted to kidnap him in the first place, let alone for breeding. It wouldn't give them any additional power and they were already king's favorite division.

"Why? Why do this Dok? You must know there's nothing in it for you." Armin finally spoke, eyes alight with rage as his scowl deepened. "What do you want me for?"

"I know you were already informed that you are to be bred, no need to play dumb. Why is besides the point. You should learn quickly to stop caring about the why of things and accept your new position." Dok replied, though he made no move to approach Armin or dismiss the other man in the room.

"New position? What new position?" Armin spat, his arms twisting against the coarse rope once again. "I'm a member of the Survey Corps under Captain Levi's command. That is my position." His words were sharp and biting, but Dok gave no response other than the thinning of his lips into a thin line.

"It's a shame you still think so." Came the cool response, before Dok reached to his side and withdrew a knife from its sheath. Gesturing for the other man in the room to come closer, he moved behind Armin as the omega began to struggle when the blade pressed between the skin of his arms and the ropes. "He's going to try to run. Hold him down." Dok spoke, before the ropes loosened.

Armin bolted, or at least, he tried. Lunging up from his position on the chair, he found himself immediately yanked back into a hard chest, the man with the hat holding him tightly by each bicep. "Now kitten, don't you start misbehaving now, we'd hate to have to knock you out again. They say too much of that medicine so soon is dangerous." The man warned into his ear.

The closeness made Armin want to vomit. He kicked his legs out beneath him, but it was useless when he was simply lifted from the ground as the man followed Dok out of the room. Like a wounded animal, Armin thrashed and wailed, trying to wiggle his way out of the man's grip. Not that he'd have anywhere to go after he escaped. As soon as they exited the room, it was clear Armin would have just run into the fold of the Military Police, many of whom were now laughing at his struggle while he was escorted by. However, one figure caught his eye.

"Annie! Annie, please!" The rational part of Armin's brain told him even if she wanted to help, there was no way she could surrounded by so many others. "Please, you have to help me. Annie!" Tears rolled down his cheeks as he wailed, but the blonde woman just stared at him, her eyes distant, perhaps saddened. Then, she was gone and Armin was surrounded by fresh air. Outside, horses milled around, saddled and ready to ride. They were out of their mind if they thought Armin was going to be compliant enough to not spook a horse as he hung slack in the unnamed man's arms, sobbing quietly.

"How much longer we gonna do this for again?" The man holding him asked as he was passed over to Dok so he could mount the horse before hauling Armin up with him.

"That doesn't matter. We hired you for the night, you'll be paid when we reach our final destination." Dok replied, mounting his own horse as several men and women around them did the same. "We get him in the city without any issues, you're good to go."

At mention of the city, Armin began to struggle again, whining low in his throat. The man behind him stroked his head in a condescending manner as he chuckled. "That's a pretty sound, kitten, but it's not going to get you out of here any quicker, I'll tell you that."

Then, they were off. There was probably a formation and if Armin had been any more lucid, he would have tried to figure out who was placed where for what reason. Instead, his head dropped against his chest and he wept, captive in the man's tight hold. If he got out of there, he'd train. Train to be stronger than this so he'd never be stuck in such a situation again. Despite being captive on horseback, Armin's eyelids grew heavy an hour into their ride and he began to doze off, awakening occasionally with a jolt, hoping it was all but a dream.

This time, he awoke to a whistle, then a scream. Armin's head snapped up and he tried to move, but the man's grip remained as secure as ever. "What was that, what's happening?" He stammered as the soldiers around him suddenly broke off aside from two. Annie and Dok now kicked their horses into a gallop through the woods alongside Armin's.

"I told you it was too obvious. We never should have moved him." Annie shouted, presumably to Dok. Around them, Armin could hear some sort of clash, people yelling and metal striking metal. The night sky was stained red from a flare that had been launched behind them and Armin was disoriented. Usually in such a situation, he'd be in his maneuver gear alongside Eren and Mikasa, calling the shots, knowing where everyone on the field was in play. Here, he knew nothing.

Suddenly, Armin was jolted from his thoughts when he slammed into the ground, rolling several feet away from where he'd been deposited by their falling horse. Before he could properly orient himself, he was grabbed and hauled up again, this time by Annie. Dazedly, he looked behind them only for his world to burst into clarity. Even with his back to Armin, he'd recognize humanity's strongest any day, facing off against Dok and the unnamed kidnapper. Armin thrashed, his nails biting into Annie's skin as he tried to fling himself from the horse and towards the alpha.

"Levi! Levi!" But as Levi turned to look at him, Dok moved to strike, drawing the three men into a battle while Armin and Annie disappeared off into the woods.

"Let me go! Let go of me Annie, let go!" Armin shrieked, his fight renewed as he tried to rip himself away from the blonde. Her hand clamped over his mouth and she seethed down at him, dodging branches in their path.

"For someone so smart, you're a fucking idiot. Shut up. Do you want the Military Police to know where you are?" She snapped, slowing the horse down to a trot as the sounds of fighting faded out behind them. Eyes wide, Armin shook his head, staring back at the mysterious woman. He wanted to know what her game was. Whose side she was really on. After a moment of silence, she let go of Armin's mouth.

"You have to be careful. They're not going to stop coming after you, Armin, you're too valuable."

At that, the omega furrowed his brows. "What do you mean? I'm not useful to them, there's nothing I can do." He complained, shifting from where he had been slung over the horse's back.

"There's still so much you don't know about your kind, omega." Her voice was solemn and brought Armin pause.

"How would you know?"

At that, the barest hint of a smile crossed Annie's face and she shook her head. "That's a story for another time. Or perhaps for you to find out yourself. But remember, there's a reason the omegas were killed off. There's a reason the government wants to breed them again. And you're going to be the target of all of it." She stopped speaking and reigned in her horse at the familiar sound of maneuver gear whistling close. Looking up, Armin could have cried with joy when he saw Ymir poised in a branch above them.

There seemed to be a silent discussion between Ymir and Annie that Armin was left out of, the two remaining silent, just staring at one another until Ymir came down and scooped Armin off the horse. All it took was a nod, no words exchanged and they were off, Ymir sailing through the sky with Armin like it was something she did every day.

Armin clutched tightly to her shirt and looked up at the brunette, his brows furrowed in thought. "What wa-"

"I found him!" Ymir called out, cutting him off as she passed by what Armin thought was Connie, who whooped happily and sailed off separately, probably to tell the others to back off.

Shortly, they landed around where the Survey Corps had left their horses.

"What was that all about? How did- what just happened?" Armin stammered out when Ymir set him down. Rather than respond, the woman held a finger to her lips and shook her head. Her eyes said all they needed to. What went down with Annie would have to be a secret.

Exhaustion hit Armin without any warning. In less than twenty four hours he'd been kidnapped from a Survey Corps camp, taken to a warehouse by the Military Police, told he was going to be bred, was saved by Annie, then by the Survey Corps and was told that he was the center of some century long plot. Without realizing it, tears began to fall from his eyes and he dropped onto the ground, burying his face in his hands. Minutes later, he was snapped out of it by a dozen voices calling his name. Looking up through teary eyes from where he sat at Ymir's feet, Armin was greeted by a combined force of Levi and Mike's squad.

He did notice Erwin was missing. That made sense, he was a commander and to go after a soldier who went missing would be clear favoritism. Eren, Sasha and Krista weren't there either. Mikasa, however, immediately grabbed his face in her hands when the lot landed, checking him over thoroughly for injury. He could hear her snarl when she came to his arms, blistered and raw from his frantic twisting, but was pulled away by Mike.

"We know you're all happy, but let him be. The best thing we can do right now is take him back to the camp." The massive man gently chided his troops. Some were looking pretty beat up. Levi's shirt was torn and bloodied along with his face, clearly disheveled, Nanaba was clutching their arm protectively to their chest and Jean's eye was already swelling up. Guilt overtook Armin as quickly as exhaustion had. Despite years of effort, he was still a burden on those he loved.

"I'm sorry," Armin spoke softly, his eyes going to the ground. He couldn't look at any of them. "I'm sorry everyone. If it wasn't for me-"

"If it wasn't for you what? You wouldn't have gotten kidnapped? Well no shit." Ymir interrupted him for the second time that day while pulling him to his feet. "But you did, so we came to get you. That's all." Armin had never been so grateful to the abrasive woman.

Back at the camp, Armin was greeted immediately by Erin throwing himself at the omega, to no one's surprise. Much in the manner Mikasa had, he began to search the blonde for injury, his eyes wide and upset. Levi pushed him out of the Armin's space about a minute later.

"He's hurt, dip shit. Instead of you kissing his boo-boos away, he needs to go see Hanji." There was still an edge to the short alpha's voice, as if he was daring Eren to say otherwise. "He can't really do that when you're fawning all over him."

Eren bit back his snarl, wanting to snap that it didn't seem like he was the one doing the fawning. But Armin's well being took precedence. Despite his insistence that they were just going to be sore for a while, he was escorted to Hanji's lab by the two alphas, only furthering his humiliation. They were acting like he'd lost a limb when Armin saw soldiers with worse wounds returning from battle almost every day.

After a brief meeting with Hanji where they applied a salve and bandages to the most raw areas on his arms, the omega was dismissed to his barracks. Everyone was asleep when he arrive, no surprise there, it must have been around three in the morning at that point. Crawling into his bed next to Eren, the alpha grunted in greeting, rolling around to face the blonde.

"I was worried about you. They didn't let me go help. Said I would make things too obvious." Eren murmured, breath fanning pleasantly across Armin's face. The blonde smiled, the hand going up to caress his best friend's face.

"Nothing happened and I'm okay now." Armin reassured him, only to be silenced by Eren pressing their lips together. Armin was used to kissing Eren, little pecks here and there, but this was different. Eren licked into his mouth, his hand going to cup Armin's jaw and the blonde whimpered when he picked up the change in Eren's scent from calm to alpha. Scraping his teeth against his lower lip when he pulled away, Eren moved down, laying open mouthed kisses against the blonde's neck.

Every little hitch of Armin's breath drove Eren up in intensity. And he hadn't stopped him, hadn't told Eren this was going too far. Instead, one of the omega's hands was clutching his pillow and the other wove itself into brunette locks. Armin let out a high pitched whine, he back arching up from the bed when Eren bit down light at the joint of his neck, opposite his scent gland. From there, Eren sucked and tugged at the flesh between his teeth. He wanted to mark Armin, high up for the rest of the soldiers to see, but knew how upset the blonde would be, so he settled. Armin could cover this with his shirt's collar, but Eren would know it was there.

When Eren went to move lower, a tug to his hair stopped him. "Eren..." The whisper had him looking up at Armin through his lashes, his hands running up and down the blonde's sides.

"Let me make you feel good, Arm." Eren's voice was rough, thick with lust he'd kept at bay for years now. When Armin's only response was to pull his bottom lip between his teeth, Eren took it as an okay and pushed his shirt up under his armpits, baring his torso for hungry eyes. They'd seen each other naked plenty of times, but the image of Armin splayed across the bed, hair wild, flushed to his neck looking up at Eren would forever be seared into the alpha's mind. Growling low in the back of his throat, Eren kissed and licked his way across the blonde's check until he found a nipple. Wrapping his lips around the little bud, he basked in the way Armin gasped, pressing into the touch, his legs running together beneath them to relieve the building pressure.

Laving at the nipple with his tongue, Eren took the other between his fingers and pinched until Armin's whine became strangled and he released the abused nub, soothing it with circles from his thumb.

Armin was a mess already. Eren had hardly touched him, but he could already feel slick building between his legs and was rock hard in his pants, watching his best friend lavish him with attention. Every stroke of his tongue had another noise slipping from him, trying to remember that they were in the barracks and had to keep quiet. When Eren finally left his nipples behind, red and sore, Armin was aching, panting open mouthed.

Running his teeth across the strip of skin above Armin's pant line, Eren hooked his fingers under the fabric and gazed up at Armin while he slid them off, throwing them to the side of the bed. He'd never get sick of the flush on the blonde's face or how he curled up, trying to hide his nudity. Eren wasn't having it. He pushed Armin's legs down and let out a breath, resting his cheek against a thigh.

"You're so beautiful. You've always been so beautiful." Eren murmured, taking Armin's cock into his hand. Rubbing his thumb under the head, he watched Armin throw his head back, mouth open in a silent cry. When he went to stroke his tongue across the head, the omega covered his face with his hands, his chest heaving. Before Levi, Armin had only known the pleasure of his own hands. This was entirely new to him.

"Armin, look at me." Eren spoke again, slowly stroking his shaft while he waited for the blonde to comply. When he simply shook his head, hands still covering his face, Eren growled. The sound came from deep in his chest and was accompanied with a harsh bite to his inner thigh that had Armin choking on his gasp. "Omega," Eren growled, tightening his grip on the blonde's cock. "Look at me."

And how could Armin disobey? Eyes blown wide, his hands fell next to his head when he looked down at the alpha who smiled, content with the obedience, before he finally took Armin's cock into his mouth. Eren took his time, slowing dragging his tongue across the head while he sucked on the omega's tip, amused with the little jerks in his hips whenever he hit a particularly good spot. Continuing with his taunting, Eren drew back and licked a line up the length of the cock, his free hand going to rub little circles around the omega's hole.

Armin's whines grew in volume, not caring anymore if he awoke the other boys while Eren alternated between lapping at his cock and dipping the tip of a finger into him, only to withdraw again. He was going insane. Tossing his head back and forth on the sheets, Armin's hands went to Eren's hair, tugging at the strands. "Please, Eren." His voice was breathless and too wrecked considering the little they'd done. "Please, stop teasing, just-"

That was all it took for Eren to lean in, finally taking Armins' cock fully into his mouth while he slipped a finger into the omega, curling it upwards in search of his prostate. Armin threw his head back, muffling his whines the best he could as he bucked into Eren's mouth. Both hands tightened suddenly in the alpha's hair and he cut off his own shout half way when Eren's finger pressed against his bundle of nerves.

"Eren, Eren," He stammered as the brunette pushed him closer to the edge, stroking his finger against the same spot while he bobbed along Armin's cock. "I can't hold-Eren I'm gonna cum, move." Armin gasped, arching further into the brunette as he spoke. Eren showed no sign of moving, instead he slipped another finger in next to his first and dug his tongue into the blonde's slit and Armin was gone, his hands coming up to cover his mouth as he rode out his orgasm. He was a shivering mess when Eren released him with one last lick to his cock.

With a content hum, the brunette crawled his way back up the bed and rested next to Armin, wrapping his arms around the omega. Still dazed, Armin nuzzled into his neck. "I can...y'know...do it too if you want." He offered, looking up into emerald eyes that smiled down at him.

"I told you, I wanted to make you feel good. Go to sleep."

Armin didn't let himself think on it much longer. Smiling drowsily when Eren kissed his forehead, he drifted off. Everything could be dealt with in the morning.


End file.
